Homeless Liars
by mythluver241
Summary: Many people are crazy, twisted, insane. But it's even more disconcerting when a 12 year old homeless girl can't help but hurt people. And when she meets the god of mischief and lies, Loki himself, she can't help but feel a mutual attachment to him. Based off the movie The Avengers.
1. Prologue

**This is my first time ever writing a fan fiction, so I hope I did all right. I've read a lot of the other Loki themed stories and would recommend many of them. I hope you enjoy this, though I realize that many stories start out relatively slow. Don't worry, it'll get better. Please, feel free to criticize me as much as you want. Thanks!**

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Prologue

Loki was bored. There was no other word for it. He had been falling for much too long and the general worry about where he was falling too had worn off. He had tried to summon a book to his hand with magic, even attempted to entertain himself by chucking random rocks at small stars, causing them to explode, and though that kept him temporarily amused, it soon left him wondering what his life had come to and wishing that he had company. But instead he was left to his own devises, which at that point were immensely limited

Now all he ever really thought about were revenge schemes to get back at his foolish father- no, not his father. His father was Laufey, king of the frost giant. Dead now, by his hand. Odin was more of a kidnapper, a liar. He would regret all the wrongs he had induced soon enough. And his dimwitted 'brother' who had gone to Midgard and come back _worthy_. Worthy for the throne that Loki so desperately desired. He needed to be king, to rule above others. Midgard would pay for this. For his brother, for his throne, for all of it. Pay with blood and freedom.

He was ripped out of his reverie by the sudden realization that there was something out there, hiding in the vast darkness that enveloped him. A strange, bluish light was slowly beginning to outline a rather large rock which he appeared to be falling towards. He sighed in relief, feeling that he could at least rest there, free from the ever present lurching feeling in his stomach, and possibly free from boredom as well. The thought didn't last long, however, as he began to see movement on the rock. The light seemed to be coming from openings all over it, and things were crawling in and out of them. He finally made it within the atmosphere and saw, to his amazement, that it was not a rock at all, but a giant ship.

Suddenly, he felt a pull in his gut that had nothing to do with the falling sensation, and he was dragged down to the surface. His icy blue eyes widened in awe as he descended to the front of a throne. He knelt automatically, feeling that it was prudent in the current condition. He was a guest, and this - whatever it was – obviously held a powerful position on this world.

"Loki," It said, voice deep and strong, commanding. It was not a question, but a statement, as if he had been awaiting the lost prince.

"Sir?" Loki responded, unable to say anything else. All the surprise of this predicament still fresh in his mind.

"Please, enough with the formalities. You are welcome here," said the thing on the throne, and he did indeed sound as if he and Loki were old friends, not complete strangers.

"But, where exactly is here?" Loki questioned, attempting to keep any confusion out of his head as he said it.

"Here is the nation of the Chitauri," the thing exclaimed proudly, and as he said it, his chair swiveled around to face the god of mischief. Loki barely contained a gasp as he looked up at a Titan. He had read about them in books, a strange race of powerful, godlike creatures. Loki stared at him, sizing him up.

His face was confident, accented by grooves that were etched into his purple skin. White-blue eyes shone out of his flesh, and his grin of malice made Loki want to run and hide, to curl up with his mother and cower, though he didn't show it. Instead he stared back with a look of determination, silently inquiring after his title.

"Ah, yes. I am called Thanos, but master will suffice."

"Am I a prisoner, Thanos?"

"Master, and yes, for the time being, at least."

"Why, _master_?" Loki asked defiantly, putting emphasis on master to show his unwillingness to cooperate.

"Because, Loki, there is a job you are going to complete for me, in exchange for revenge on Thor and Odin."

"And what if I refuse?"

"Oh," Thanos chuckled, lips curling into a dangerous smirk, "If you fail to complete the task, then I shall personally assure that you feel agony the like of which you have never felt before. Mark my words, Loki Laufeyson, I will make you bleed, burn and cower at my feet until I have you begging for death."

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 **I hope I did alright, and I also hope you continue reading this, however boring the beginning may seem.**


	2. Chapter 1-Forever Alone

**It's so nice to know that people are already reading this, and I sure hope at least one of them actually continues the story. If you're reading this, it means you've continued it. Thank you.**

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CHAPTER 1

Forever Alone

Amber was stalking down the road, eyes darting from one side to the other, searching for food. Her mouth watered as she looked into the blatant shop windows of Manhattan. She watched a young child hug his mom for getting him ice cream and she felt as if she might throw up. She instead chose to trip him and steal his ice cream. She continued down the sidewalk, listening to the sobs of the child as he got up from his face plant into the pavement. She laughed out loud, licking her treat and grinning like a maniac. She hated children, or more specifically, hated any sort of family affection involving children and parents.

Lucky for her, she'd never had to bother with that type of sappy, _I wuv u mummy. I wuv u daddy. Life is good and I have a home and free food whenever I want it blah blah blah,_ like the rest of those idiot children. No, she was lucky enough to have been abandoned on the street, left to die! How fun does that sound! I mean, who wants to grow up with people who love and provide for you when you can have devious drug dealers and homicidal hijackers! The streets were all she knew, all she had known from the word go.

When people saw her, dirty blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail, dark black, skin tight shirt and shredded blue jeans, even her belt, which was a black thing that she'd stolen from a place, she always saw pity in their eyes - though they generally stayed away from her, since her bright orange hoody gave her the look of a criminal - before, that is, they saw her face. Her skin was so pail it was almost see through. Her mouth was small, like her nose, but her eyes were large and round. They were constantly shifting from color to color according to her mood, from white to black to blue. Even red when she was especially angry. She never got enough to eat, so she was frighteningly thin, her cheekbone was sharp and her ribs could be seen through her clothing.

Her life was a strict "my food is mine and so is yours" thing. She stole, fought and occasionally killed when she had to. But she was still a kid, and providing for yourself for twelve years can be tough. Never in her life had she had a family, and she didn't need one. She didn't want one.

She had taken only a week to master the art of walking, a month to master the art of thieving, and a year to master the art tricks and mischief, which was her first choice of killing technique. Set a trap, then sit back, relax, and watch the victim kill themselves. Much cleaner than upfront knife killing. And more entertaining.

That day had been pretty uneventful, but night was when things really started happening. But for her, it was quiet and calm, dark, despite the bright lights of the city. She was traveling, not very far, outside the city, at least. She felt herself relax at the prospect of leaving. A magnetic feeling in her diaphragm that made her feel as though if she were to jump of a building, she would be pulled directly where she wanted to go. Which was pretty much exactly what she was going to do.

* * *

She stood at the top of the Empire State Building, feeling the wind blow across her face. God she had missed this, the thrill, the magnificence. In her excitement, she almost forgot to make herself invisible to the eye. She waved her hand across the Manhattan skyline, whispering the ten glorious words that had been the key to her survival for twelve long years. "You cannot sense me in any way. I don't exist."

Then she backed up, tensing her muscles and grinning hysterically. She bent down and then pelted, head long to the brink of the building, diving off of it in a frenzied mess of screams and laughs. She plunged downward for about two hundred fifty feet before closing her eyes and summoning her limited magic. She was propelled upward by the force of her spell, hovering a few hundred feet above everything. She flipped and dived through the air, releasing some of her confined vitality. Dashing through the wisps of cloud and smoke. She yelled some rather rude words, just for fun, and then set off after the source of her curiosity.

She would not be missed. Her stuff would not be stolen, because she had none. She would simply disappear, like many of the other homeless, and be disregarded until her return. _If I return_ she thought to herself, excitedly. The last time she'd gone - she had been eight then - she had messed with the wrong people and ended up in a glass prison. It had been quite boring, but not terrible. She had enjoyed annoying the guards and her sentence hadn't been that long, since she was a little girl and she'd never actually alerted certain groups to their location. And the information she had stolen hadn't been super serious. Honestly, she thought she should've just been given a firm talking to and set out into the wild.

This thought lasted her a few hours as she recounted all the hilarities of the adventure, and soon she began to slow down. She had apparently reached her destination at last. She dropped down as a helicopter zoomed above her and said the words again. She didn't want to be caught. Not just yet.

You know those games where you have the option of using cheats or not. Well, this was like using cheats. It was boring. She simply landed on the ground and walked – or rather bounded – into a large building across from her entrance. She still had the feeling of being dragged, and she intended to find out what it was that was "pulling" her, as she thought that was the case.

She passed numerous men and women in black, tight fit clothes, with gun holsters at their sides. She would've assumed she was in an army facility if she hadn't been to somewhere similar. "Good," she said, grinning when nobody heard her. They couldn't sense her in any way. It was as if she did not exist, which in her case was good. She held out a hand and snatched a gun from a passing agent and held it, examining it. It seemed good, and as long as she kept it in her belt, it wouldn't be seen. She practically jumped for joy when she saw a military rifle. She loved explody things.

Side stepping a man in a suit, because, unfortunately, the things she was surrounded by could still feel her, she followed him to a landing platform, where the helicopter from before was touching down.

"Instructor Fury!" he called, and Amber made note of the edge in his voice. It sounded as if something wasn't going as planned.

"How bad is it?" A man with dark, chocolate brown skin and a black eyepatch stepped out. His long leather trench coat and black turtleneck made him seem as though he held a very high position in this facility. As he strode into the light, Amber saw three scratches curve along his face and disappear under his eyepatch. He also had a small mustache and beard, and his leather boots made clicking noises on the ground as he walked. He strutted about as if he owned the place, which he probably did, being the director and all.

"That's the problem, sir. We don't know," Coulson said as he walked away swiftly.

"Doctor Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago," Said a new woman.

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to pull the test phase," Fury said as they entered.

"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement."

"It just turned itself on? What are the energy levels now?"

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac."

"How long to get everyone out?"

"Campus should be clear in the next half hour."

"Do better," snapped Fury.

"Sir, evacuation may be futile."

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?"

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a safe distance."

"I need you to make sure that phase-

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?"

"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on," Fury explained, "Clear out the tech below. Every piece of phase two on the truck and gone."

"Yes sir," the woman said, "Come with me," she said, gesturing at a few other Agents, and walking away.

Amber was beaming from ear to ear. Explosions, oh how she loved them. She seemed to overlook the part about her getting caught in it as well, as she descended a stair case, following Fury. As he reached the bottom, he set off quickly and determinedly, soon joined by a man. This new guy wore a plaid shirt and kakis, who had to be Selvig. He held a clip board and Amber could hear their conversation from the stairs. If she had been paying attention.

Instead, she was gazing around at the incredible room, full of interesting gadgets. It had a high ceiling and a sort of brace at the top. Many men and women in white uniforms jostled around, taking note and examining computers. But the thing that caught her eye was a strange contraption in the center of the area. It was a mechanism that seemed to be very important, and also very dangerous. She dashed to it, before glancing at the two men. She strolled over to them and listened to their conversation.

"Low levels of gamma radiation," the other man was saying, bending over a computer to examine the data shown on the screen.

"That can be harmful," replied Fury.

Harmful? Awesome!

"Where's Agent Barton?" Asked Fury, looking around.

"The hawk? In his nest, as usual," said Selvig, gesturing to a walkway above them.

The man named Barton stood up as Fury strode over below his hiding place. He had a high tech bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his back, which didn't make any sense to Amber, since guns were much more convenient. He slid down a rope and landed on the ground.

"Agent Barton, report to me."

"Director Fury."

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things."

"I can see better from a distance."

"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?"

"Doctor, it's spiking again," a lady in a white uniform informed the doctor.

"No one come or gone. It's oven's clean. No contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't on the end."

"At this end? A cube of space, one end of the door." Asked Fury, perplexed.

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides."

Just then, a boom came from the blue cube. All the lights flickered off, and all that was left was the iridescent blue glow.

A flash and a spurt of light. A crack and a boom. And then, all went quite. Amber stood there, surveying the room. The cube had done something to the platform a few feet from it. Something was moving on it. Amber's eyes widened as the fog cleared and she saw what it was. A man was crouched on the pad. He wore strange looking armor and held what looked like a killer glow stick. And he was smiling.

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 **I know that I must have gotten some lines wrong, so please just pretend they never existed for the time being. Next chapter things get a little more interesting. Thank you.**


	3. Chapter 2-Sir, Please Put Down the Spear

**I've already got a bunch of you reading this, and I am eternally grateful, since I have been typing non-stop ever since I got out of school today. Thank you to ikingboo for my first ever review and thanks to everyone who's decided to check it out.**

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CHAPTER 2

Sir, Please Put Down the Spear

Loki glanced from right to left. It worked! It actually worked! He was on Midgard, and there was the Tesseract, right there, just waiting for him to take it. He and Thanos had eventually come to an agreement. He would get Thanos the Tesseract in exchange for command of the entire Chitauri army and later Midgard to rule. If he failed, he knew he would be hunted down, tortured, and eventually killed, but he didn't intend to fail. He surveyed the room, registering everything, from the men's hands on their gun holsters to the high ceiling and tech gear.

"Sir, please put down the spear," a black man said, pointing his pistol at Loki. He had an eye patch and a killer trench coat.

Spear, what spear? Loki looked down at his right hand to find his staff, a gift from Thanos himself, containing a piece of the Tesseract in the tip. He looked up and smiled curiously, then shot an experimental blast out of the point. It knocked into a man and he flew backward, landing in a tangle of wires and immediately zapping himself with electricity.

Men charged as Loki bounded off the pedestal. He shot daggers from his sleeve and landed on a man who had failed to be pierced. He looked up to see a little girl staring, wide eyed at him. He smirked as he got up, turning to the man with the medieval weapon.

"You have heart," Loki said, pressing the tip of his spear into the guy with the bow and arrow. The man's eyes went completely black and then white, ice pupiled, and filmy. The man, soon to be known as Barton, lowered his weapon and nodded.

Loki stalked toward the girl. She was small, dirty and frightened. She backed up as he came nearer, until she had nowhere to go. Loki could see the whites of her bright, white blue eyes. He could hear her heart beating much too fast as she glared up at him. Her eyes. How disconcerting, but he could swear they were changing, swirling from bright blue to iridescent red. She was growling, her fists clenched and her back hunched slightly. He stopped watching as she slowly raised her hand, pointing behind him. He turned, and saw the only man left grab the Tesseract and shove it into a silver suitcase and shut the hinges.

"Please don't. I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," said the man.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard,and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"Loki, brother of Thor," gasped Selvig and Loki rolled his eyes disdainfully. Even here on the most primitive planet in existence he couldn't escape the confinement of Thor's shadow.

"We have no quarrel with your people," the black man said. Loki found that quite humorous actually. He chose his next words carefully, making sure he did not offend.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot."

"Are you planning to step on us?"

"I come with glad tidings," Loki smiled, "Tidings of a world made free."

"Free from what?"

"Freedom," Loki explained, "Freedom is life's great lie." Turning toward Selvig, he repeated his previous action, pressing the tip of the spear just barely upon the clothes above his heart while saying, "Once you except that, in your heart... you will know peace."

"You say peace," the man exclaimed, "I kind of think you mean the other thing."

Before advancing toward the man trying to steal his prize, he turned back, wanting to possess the child, but as he looked around for her, he saw that she was no longer there.

* * *

Amber watched from the sidelines as the man in the strange gold and green get up strolled over to Fury and exchanged a few words. Fury seemed to be stalling, and sure enough, Agent Barton soon stated what she had been thinking. She thought about the new guy, Loki, she thought. He terrified her, though he was rather humorous, and he had just appeared out of nowhere. The weirdest thing in the world was supposed to be her, and it was annoying as well as comforting to know that she was not alone in the world.

Still, the glow stick seemed very dangerous and he probably had more tricks up his green leather sleeve than he was letting on (along with an assortment of knives and a fair bit of metal). She heard something about everyone getting buried alive and decided to get a move on. As she followed Loki and his entourage, she heard the facility rumble above her. They entered a cave full of vehicles and Loki climbed disconcertedly into the back of a Jeep while Selvig got into the passenger seat. Hill and Barton exchanged a few words before Barton got into the car.

Unfortunately for Loki, Agent Hill got a message from her communication device in her ear that caused her to have second thoughts about letting Barton go. Yelling at some surrounding people to that Barton was compromised and that they should run for it because the entire base was about to collapse. Amber barely had enough time to thrust herself onto the top of Loki's car and cling on for dear life before they took off at top speed through the massive tunnel. Hill and a few other agents climbed into other cars and screeched off, chasing the Jeep.

Amber watched, excitedly as the cars raced after each other, watched as bullets and screams filled the air, and watched as a whole lot of cliché unfolded behind her. Hill and the other people fired guns at the car, some which hit the windshield, and others that simply ricocheted of the rock walls and bounced back at their owners. Loki set of an avalanche by hitting the ceiling with a blast of either pure power or just magic. Whatever substance came from that staff of his.

Amber saw Hill speed up and turn around, barreling into Barton and Selvig. She pulled out a pistol but couldn't get an accurate shot as her car was shoved to the side and the tunnel collapsed. Barton continued driving on a dirt road, dust clouds rising behind him, until all that could be heard was the calming whir of propellers that meant a helicopter had been sent to rib their bowels out and saw their heads off.

Fury loomed out of the darkness, gun in hand, but before any of his shots came in contact, Loki shot his helicopter down easily. Fury headed for the ground, somehow avoiding getting crushed by the door or shredded by the propellers. Amber saw him raise his walky-talky to his mouth, before his image was engulfed in dust.

It suddenly struck her how exhausted she was. The adrenaline was starting to where off, and all the use of magic had taken its toll. She made the decision to sleep here instead of drop off of the top of the car, because she was sure she would be crushed by the evacuating Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D as they drove for cover. She belted herself to the top of the car, hoping that in the morning, she would be able to lift her spell.

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 **Next chapter, I'll give Amber and Loki a proper greeting, meaning that Amber will stalk Loki and Loki will know nothing about it, and then halfway through they'll switch.**


	4. Chapter 3-Okay, Here's the Plan

**I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!** **I am loving writing this and right now I am in love with anyone reading this message. That means you!**

CHAPTER 3

Okay, Here's The Plan

Amber awoke with a slight headache, belted to the top of a Jeep with a sore spot on her forehead. She felt like a potato, first ripped out of the ground, then dragged around in a sack until the imminent prospect of death by oven took her. She panicked for a little while before remembering where she was and why. She unbuckled herself from the roof rack and jumped down, landing on all fours in a crouching position. She looked up to find a pair of boots coming toward the car. She ducked under the vehicle and kept low to the ground as the boots passed.

Her magic sometimes wore off when she slept, like that (unfortunately) unforgettable time when she'd woken up tied to a chair with a knife held to a throat by a cross eyed, bearded man who smelled of bear and tasted like curdled milk (don't ask). She made an experimental tapping noise and when no one responded, whistled. Nothing happened, so she slowly clambered out from under the car, not even bothering to dust herself off. The years of accumulated grime were sufficient enough to hide any oil smudges and she didn't really care, anyway.

She crossed to a door at the other end of the garage and opened it soundlessly. What she saw before her made her gasp. Tons of soldiers, professors, and assorted terrorists greeted her. The two men from before were walking around, checking on others. She couldn't see Loki, though, and that was the only person she was truly interested in. She was too afraid of boredom to stick around and wait, so she decided to figure out what was going on.

"George, where's the rocket launcher?" asked a passing soldier to his companion.

"I thought you had it!" said George.

"Loki won't be very glad that you lost a rocket launcher."

"We've got so many, it's not like he'll notice."

"He notices everything, Frank. It's creepy. It's like he's always watching us."

The air behind them shimmered, like a mirage, and Loki appeared behind them.

"Excuse me, men. But I would be most, uh, _grateful_ , if you told everyone not to bother me."

As he walked away down a hallway, George muttered, "Like anyone would go looking for him anyway."

A dagger bloomed in his throat and he made a gurgling sound.

"Alert them that i shall be in my room. You can leave the body there," Loki said, and the other soldier obeyed. Leaving Amber to contemplate what she had seen.

Amber walked down a hall to the right and discovered a long line of rooms, numbered in a mixture of languages, including English. She knocked on a door and stood back to see what happened. A soldier in a bath towel and an army cap was hastily pinning his badge to his bath robe. _Barracks_ , she guessed, before slamming the door in the bewildered man's face.

She continued on her way, occasionally squeezing herself against the wall to make way for passing men and women, going the opposite way down the hall. How could Loki have found all these people and somehow convinced them to work for him. It seemed impossible, but obviously it wasn't or Amber wouldn't have to repeatedly _squish_ herself! He was possibly more dangerous than she had first perceived, but that made it all the more fun to stalk him.

She came to the end of the hallway and that magnetic feeling returned, faint at first, but getting stronger. As she walked to the left it became almost unbearable, until she felt as if she was fighting to keep herself from being dragged backwards. She leaned away from the feeling and fell flat on her already bruised face. She let out a cry of pain heard by nobody and scrambled to her feet. She turned around and backtracked to the end of the previous hallway speed increasing until she ran headlong into a wall and fell on her aching butt. She howled in pain, and yelled a couple swear words among the shrieks.

When she was done saying rather rude things about Jesus, she straitened up and promptly fell over again. Damn it! Was it really that time again already?! She sat there, hunger gripping the insides of her stomach and causing her chest to spasm slightly. She hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon, and even that had been a kiddy sized ice cream cone with no nutritional value whatsoever. Her stomach roared angrily, gurgling unhappily.

She decided that Loki could wait, because her stomach sure couldn't, and her stomach was much more temperamental than this strange man. If only she knew how close she had been to finding her target.

Or how wrong she really was.

* * *

Loki waited in his room, reading a book on his four poster bed. He was almost as bored as he had been when he was falling. He was stuck in a room with nothing to do but read the books Selvig provided, which turned out to be sloppy vampire romance novels.

" _Veronica, how I missed you. I thought you were lost forever!"_

" _Oh, Martin. You should know my desire for you could never be overthrown by hideous Dacron could never quench my love for you! My passion knows no boundaries!"_

" _If Dacron ever tries to kill you again, you tell him that even though you may be a vampire, you have the same right to life that he does. He shall never threaten you again!"_

Loki was with Dacron on this one. When he became king he would be sure to burn every single Vampire Romance novel on the planet. Or better yet, send them to Asgard as punishment. _Yes_ , he thought to himself, grinning maliciously, _that is what I shall do. Thor will positively die over the prospect, since I am not even sure that he knows how to read._

As he predicted the many faces the Lady Sif would make when attempting to read this transgression of intelligence, he heard a thumping sound outside his door. It sounded as if someone had walked straight into it. He waited for a few minutes, wondering if one of the guests had forgotten what he had told them about not disturbing him, and when another, softer thud came from the hall outside, he assumed that they were leaving.

As he deposited the book in the trash bin, his thoughts turned to the little girl he had seen the night he'd stolen the Tesseract. The more he thought about it, the more strange and unnatural she seemed. She had simply disappeared, vanished into thin air. He was sure she had been there, there was no question. But no one else had noticed her, and he had decided not to inquire about her to Selvig and Barton, not wanting to appear weak compared to a kid. But he couldn't shake the feeling that she was nearby, that she had somehow followed them here. So it was that he decided to go looking for her himself.

Summoning his staff to hand, he slid his legs off the bed and got up, smoothly. When he opened his door and stepped out into the passage, he sensed an aura of magic about it. He followed the trail from the door and saw that it backtracked down the hallway. Not sensing any presence besides his own, he chose instead to turn left and shadow the magic track going that direction. He walked briskly, as though he wasn't following an elusive child, but that he was simply going to the lab.

The track lead him there, but soon it was hopelessly lost among the maze of humans. Loki decided he would have to stop searching for now, and he instead strolled over dejectedly to speak with Selvig.

"The Tesseract has shown me so much!" said Selvig, "It's not just knowledge, but truth!

"And what has it shown you, Agent Barton," Loki asked.

"My next target."

"Tell me what you need."

"A distraction," Barton said as he prepped his bow, "And an eyeball."


	5. Chapter 4-Eyeball Hunting Season

**Hi, people. Nice to know you're out there and I'm not typing this for no one and it'll just lay there forgotten in the wild depths of the internet.**

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CHAPTER 4

Planning For Eyeball Hunting Season

"So, you're saying we should just rip it out of his skull."

"No, I did not say that at all."

"How are we going to do this without the eyeball? The eyeball is, like, the key to this whole operation!"

"You're not funny, Barton."

"Oh, I've got another one! The eyeball will _see us through_."

Amber watched the hilarity unfold in front of her, giggling to herself and planning a way to mess them up. She didn't have any reason to stay, except that she knew she would get really bored if she went back to the city. She had found food here, so that was all set, and her 'bed' wasn't as bad as the ones at home. She had progressed to a warmer substance known as rock. It was actually quite nice, sleeping without objects stabbing into your back. She still never allowed herself more than a few hours, always afraid that she would be discovered if she slept too deeply.

She was now sitting atop an unused ledge, watching the room of scientists hustle about. _How boring must it be when your only purpose in life is to take up space?_ she wondered, aloud, since no one would hear her and there was really no point in waiting until she lost her voice entirely. However, she watched as Loki gave a slight tremor and turned toward her general area before being pulled back into a whispered conversation with Selvig and Barton. Strange, he had appeared to be following her, earlier when she went in search of food.

In reality, she had been following him. She had run around the lab a few times before backtracking and following him. She knew it was dangerous to some degree, because of how powerful and menacing Loki was, but it wouldn't be fun otherwise. She'd watched him stalk her, enjoying tricking him, before deciding to run past him and listen in to conversations. That was even tougher, because of how many were going on and how _scientific_ they were. She had found one conversation that turned out to give her more information about Loki, so she'd listened to it disbelievingly.

Now she knew that he was the Norse god of mischief, and not just a powerful dude with a staff and armor. He was known for many things, like his ability to lie convincingly. Pfft, she thought, grinning, how could that be a power? Couldn't everyone lie? She knew she could and felt that it was a waist of godly energy to make someone the best at that when they obviously weren't putting it to good use.

He did have cool armor though. His pale skin wasn't ugly, nor was his sleek raven hair. He seemed relatively young, though she knew that him being a god, he had been alive for hundreds of years. He seemed calm, though she knew insanity when she saw it. Something about growing up on the streets had that sort of effect. I someone appeared to be mentally deranged, cross to the other side of the street before it was too late. One time she had been avoiding a woman with a cucumber on a leash and nearly gotten hit by a car. After that, she had seen cucumbers everywhere and stopped eating out of the dumpsters she'd found them in.

Anyway, the point was, she could sense something much more sinister crawling under his skin. His smile, his eyes, his hands, all seemed tensed. She hoped she wouldn't be around when he finally lost it, because she knew she may not make it out of that experience alive. She watched him nod, intrigued. Then she got up and walked out of the room, catching a snippet of their conversation. "We leave tomorrow."

Tomorrow. She would, of course, be going with them. There was nothing better to do, and she wanted to see this unfold. She decided to go discover a weapon. She assumed that if they were fighting something and she felt the like doing something, target practice was a nice pass time. She remembered the gun and pulled it out of her belt, examining it. It was fully loaded, small, not her favorite, but good enough to use until it ran out. She would've preferred knives, good ones, not like her switch blade.

She strolled casually down the hallway, listening for noises of weaponry. Soon she found a room full of soldiers shooting the crap out of some human shaped dummies. She looked around, but all she saw was rows and rows of different types of guns, and a few explosives. Her eyes sparkled as she quietly crossed the room to inspect them. Grenades. Gosh, it would be terrible if someone just happened to accidentally set one off- Amber stopped herself from lighting one and swiped a few, taking care to keep it discreet. She took four, and then grabbed a fifth for inspiration.

She stepped out of the room, maniacal grin back on her face as she reflected on her options. She could go back to the lab, or she could go looking for some knives. She could bet that Loki had some up his sleeve, but it was much too risky to even pickpocket him, much less stick her hand up his sleeve. She would bet anything that Loki had some daggers that he kept in his chambers.

She went off in search of his room.

She heard a noise behind her and none other than Loki himself started walking down the hallway. She hurried ahead of him, turning left and standing in that hall, watching. Loki appeared at the end of the corridor, but instead of turning left, which would've been the logical action, he turned right to face the wall. Blue magic flowed across his palm as he pressed it into the wall. To Amber's complete astonishment, it swung inward, as if it were a door.

She slipped in behind him, dodging under his arm, and walked over to the corner by the cabinet, pressing herself into it and continuing to stare around the room in search of a knife. Loki sat down on the bed and promptly got up again. Amber knew the feeling. She too had flopped down on her dumpster many times only to find herself being stabbed by a- wait, was that a vampire romance novel? Ugh, she did not admire Loki's taste, and apparently he didn't either, for he chucked it across the room, in the direction of the bookshelf. It collided with the rest of its repulsive kin and they all came tumbling to the ground. Loki left them there.

He wandered around the room a few times, then got bored and paced over to the cabinet, kneeling down right next to Amber's hiding place. He opened the bottom door and pulled out- A KNIFE! Amber was ecstatic, and would've jumped for joy if that hadn't meant certain death by impalement.

She instead waited until Loki exited the room, closing the door behind him, did she get up and do a mini victory dance. She dragged open the cabinet door and groped around until she sliced open her finger. Hissing through her teeth, she stuck it in her mouth and pulled it out, tasting blood, but something else. Something tangy. Poison.

She acted quickly. She spit on the ground and then bit herself in the wrist. Or more specifically, through a nerve cluster.

Agony, the likes of which she had never felt before, exploded in her arm as her veins began to become infected. She held her arm low, to slow the poison down, but it wasn't working. She let out one last cry of pain as stars burst behind her eyes and the world went black.

* * *

 **Hi, guys. Sorry for the delay on this one. My mom told me to go do something other than type twenty four hours a day, so I've been busy brainstorming ideas for the story. Still think you guys are amazing.**


	6. Chapter 5-Time to Leave

CHAPTER 5

Time to Leave

Loki walked down the hall to his room, thinking about the plan. He was ready, prepared, excited even. He wanted to finally make a move out in the open, and this was the perfect opportunity. He was going to attend some sort of stupid German concert or whatever, but only for the eyeball of a specific man. Well not technically the eyeball. He wasn't taking it out. He was sticking something in.

They had everything all planned out, and Barton was alerting the soldiers to it at that very moment. They left at dawn, meaning that they would arrive at their destination in the evening. Until then, he was forced to anticipate it in a state of otherwise boredom.

He got to his room and pushed open the door to reveal the small area that he was confined to. Silver bed, brown cabinet and walls of rock, it was possibly the most boring possible place to stay. The worst part by far was the old dusty bookcase, stocked with the most evil books alive. He intended to burn them or send them to Asgard as punishment. Either scenario worked fine for him.

He sat down on the bed and got up again, having sat on one of the accursed things. He picked it up and chucked it the bookcase, causing many other books to fall on top of it, crushing it. He smirked, watching them crumple. He really needed new books.

He walked over to the cabinet, crouching down in order to open the bottom door. He looked down at an assortment of knives. Different lengths, edges, abilities and, yes, poisons. Encase he couldn't deliver a killing blow, he liked to keep his specialized daggers spiked with poisons. He pulled out a nice, serrated one, which he knew to be covered in a certain herb that enhanced the pain of any unlucky person who accidentally got it into their body. He left the rest, only needing this one, and stalked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

He strolled down the corridor, occasionally stopping a soldier that had somehow displeased him and telling them to meet him in the training room, before going there himself. Two men and a woman met him there, nervous looks on their normally blank faces.

"You have all failed to do your job correctly," He said, smirking at the looks of terror on their faces.

"Sir?" asked the woman, paling as he looked at her, "Please sir, what have we done wrong?"

"Your duty is to do exactly what I say, no matter how unpleasant it may seem?" he asked, knowing that he was correct.

"Yes sir," they all replied.

"Well then, why did I catch you, Kora, sending an email to your kids last week?" He said, voice remaining calm.

"Sir! They're my children! They wonder where I am! They-they worry I'm not coming home!"

"Well, they have good reason to." He dragged the knife across her cheekbone, piercing her skin and creating a permanent scar. She howled in pain, dropping to her knees and ripping at her bleeding skull. He advanced toward the next man, a stocky, muscular, coffee skinned goliath.

"And you, Brom. You should have thought twice before attempting to contact your wife!"

"I'm so sorry, Sir. I didn't know how meteoric my decision was." Loki sliced open his chest and he yelled, falling to the ground at Loki's feet.

Loki turned to the last man in line, slim but tall. Without saying anything, he stuck the bloody dagger through the man's heart and he crumpled to the ground, dead. With that, Loki walked out of the room, grinning and laughing, red stained blade in hand. He had a few more minutes before he left the hidden base, and the boredom of it all was getting through him, sawing through certain restraints, like don't kill allies, or don't walk around aimlessly. He went back into his room again to deposit the knife, and gasped as he entered.

A huge amount of magic activity was causing his pupils to dilate. It was as if the girl had run around in circles for a few hours, constantly casting spells. Then he saw the dagger and the drops of blood near the open cabinet door. He knew that knife. His killing poison resided on it. She must have pricked herself, and, exited, he walked briskly over, and through the magical web. Nothing happened. He felt nothing, he saw nothing. He heard nothing. That either meant that she was gone, less likely, or she was dead and just disappeared, more likely.

He decided to clean it up a bit, calling upon magic to put the knife away, pausing at the blood. He chose to instead take a sample and bring it to doctor Selvig. He nearly forgot to put away the other blade, all caught up in the tantalizing prospect of finding a twelve year old.

He was just leaving when he heard something said on the intercom. "It's time to leave! All soldiers to the helicopters. Little girl obsession momentarily forgotten, he raced down the hall, heading for the transportation that would take him to the first exciting ordeal that had gone on for a very long while.

Of course, he didn't notice the small groan as a figure dropped to the floor inside his room.

Amber got up, groggily. It made no sense how often she found herself on the floor. She looked down at the cut, the tiny sliver that had had the ability to put her into what she liked to call "Damn it."

She had only gone into DI twice before, once when she was five and got hit by a bus, the second time when she had been learning to fly and instead learned what the underside of a tire tasted like. Five times. In a row. While choking. On a cucumber.

It took her a few minutes to recalibrate and dissect what she had just heard. She finally got the meaning and ran down the hallway, stumbling and cursing. She slid to a stop as the last helicopter rose into the sky. She spat on the ground, angrily. She could barely muster the strength to haul herself up the side of the building, and when it came to the magic if flying, just couldn't get it to work. So she crawled back inside and went to find some food, knowing that nutrition would help a lot.

She entered the kitchen and searched through some doors, seeing nothing that would be of any use. She finally opened the last door, fingers crossed, and scowled angrily. Cucumbers. The door was stocked full of cucumbers. The only thing with any nutritional value. Cucumbers. She grabbed one angrily, but before she got it to her mouth, had set it on fire. As it burned, she placed it in the sink, letting it burn for about ten minutes before dumping water on it. Then she stuffed it into her mouth and recoiled, gagging. It tasted terrible, though the burning had definitely enhanced the flavor.

She rifled through the spices, pulling out things like nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar. She dumped it all over the charred demon vegetable and prepared to swallow, but wasn't given a chance when she breathed in the smell. UGH, it was even worse than before. She had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from puking. She dumped it in the trash, watching it land on some discarded wrappers and slime covered garbage bags. But she was just so hungry, and it wasn't the first time she had scrounged for food in junk. She grabbed it, and, holding her nose, plunged it into her mouth.

It was horrid, disgusting. The mixture of burnt cucumber, spices, and a large variety of rubbish swirled around her mouth. She swallowed it successfully, gulping it down and holding her stomach. She had done it. She had succeeded in absorbing a cucumber. She smiled for a second as her stomach rumbled unpleasantly.

Then she projectile-vomited all over the remaining cucumbers.

Bits of garbage, slime, and wet bits of vegetable went everywhere. They accumulated on the demonic things, and the smell of it all just made Amber barf some more. The soldiers would have a nasty surprise waiting for them when they came back, she grinned, just imagining Loki's face if ever he opened this door.

She wiped the excess vomit from her mouth and trotted out the door, climbing up onto the roof with ease. Though little food was left in her stomach that seemed to have done the trick. She leaped off the edge of the ridge and sailed through the air, catching herself awkwardly and slowly rose upward until she was level with the little, black dots that were the helicopters. She sped through the air, staying pretty much where she was behind the helicopters, but still able to see them.

Around midday, they seemed to make it to the location, because the dots appeared to be slowing down, losing altitude. Soon Amber was there, above them, watching as several men and Loki himself, now dressed in slightly more casual wear (a black coat, and underneath that, a suit and tie. So basically, casual for a rich person). She wondered how he had changed and then realized, duh, magic. He seemed to be better at it then she was, mostly because he was a freaking _god_ and all that, but it made her think, what would happen if she tried something more than hiding and flying. That got boring and was really defensive. Maybe offensive stuff, like _fire._

She dropped down behind a building and waited.

She waited for a while, constantly watching the large building in which Loki had disappeared. The next thing that happened was a little terrifying. Loki came strolling out as the whole area burst into chaos. And then this crowd of Germans got trapped and all Amber could think about was, _Hey, how come I don't do that?!_


	7. Chapter 6-Kneel

CHAPTER 6

Kneel

Loki was ready to go. His nervous hands were twitching and his eyes constantly darted from them to the cockpit and back. He was so antsy, the static magic was beginning to effect his comrades. He looked up again to see the others hair on end and had to suppress a laugh. It looked especially hilarious with their serious expressions and official looking outfits.

He let a snicker escape his lips, before turning serious again. He watched Barton driving the plane and waited for a while. He had been in this enclosed space for hours. He hated enclosed spaces. He couldn't take it much longer, so when Barton made the signal that meant it was almost time to land. He felt his ears pop as they began to lose altitude. He used magic to change his normal armor into a suit and tie, though keeping his staff.

It was very uncomfortable, but he knew it wouldn't last much longer. It was evening now, and he saw the sky outside slowly turn to black as stars burst into existence. He knew Heimdal was somewhere up there, it was impossible to know what he was concentrating on.

It was good, really, that he had a magic cloak hiding them, or his annoying brother-no, Thor-might somehow come here. Though the rainbow bridge was destroyed, Oden was quite a crafty king, and you never knew how far he would go to scorn Loki.

He was just thinking this as they landed on the ground near their destination. He stood up as the doors opened and did his best not to run out of the space. Instead he composed himself and stepped out of the room, into Germany.

He felt somebody watching him, but dismissed the feeling. He doubted that it was at all accurate. He looked around just in case and saw nothing. The other copters were landing somewhere else. He looked up, toward the museum, Stuttgart, Germany, 28, Canning Strasse, and felt elated. Today was the day he would make his move. Today would mark his first victory.

He walked over to the museum, watching the soldiers disperse to stations they had gone over countless times. He made it inside and looked around from the railing. He saw the man, the target, saw him speak to the visitors, saw him blink with the eye Loki needed.

The god of mischief strutted down the stairs, holding his staff readily. A security seemed to notice his "spear" and braced himself, dashing up to him. Loki grinned, then, in a split second, flipped it and, just for fun, hit the man in the head.

He hurried to the target, dragging him by the back of his coat, and throwing him onto a pedestal while pulling out his favorite tool ever. A look of pure enjoyment crossed his face as he plunged it into the man's eye.

His body shivered with gladness as he watched the crowd of humans dashed out of the door. They were making a great deal of noise, screaming and such, and he couldn't wait to shut them up. He finally ripped the device out of the man's eye, as the necessary scan was complete. Barton had gotten the material he needed, and now it was time for him to carry out the fun part.

As he left, he felt like a wolf among sheep, and he had to restrain himself from howling. He let the mirage hiding his true attire drop, revealing his gold armor over his black and green getup. He got out his feelings by blasting a police car out of the way with an explosion of magic from his spear tip. It flipped over and the screaming grew louder. He found himself grinning happily as he stepped up in front of a cornered group of Germans.

"Kneel before me," He cried out, watching them as they tried to run. He projected himself in a circle around them, clustering them together, so that they were too afraid to run. Then he yelled again, spreading his arms wide, "I said… KNEEL!"

They obeyed, lowering themselves awkwardly. He was so glad he was getting the message across. "Is this not simpler?" He asked, the elated feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. The words came to his mind and then to his tongue, "Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, and identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel," He finished his speech, smirking manically.

His grin flipped over when an elderly man stood up. The next thing he said made Loki scowl, "Not to men like you," He said.

Loki regained his composure immediately, chuckling at the hilarity of the statement. He chose to reply, "There are no men like me."

"There are always men like you."

Wow, way to ruin a joke to break the ice. He didn't like ice breaker breakers. So he decided on his favorite fallback method for getting rid of something irksome. KILL IT! And it really worked. He was especially good at it. He could kill things with knives, magic, or his special spear. It was a tough decision, but he just had to go with magic.

He lowered his spear tip, aiming it at the old man, "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example." The jewel in his staff glowed and a humming noise filled the air. Unfortunately for Loki, a man in an American getup. A shield blocked the blast and I rebounded upon Loki himself. His legs gave out and he fell to the ground.

He looked up, scowling. The man he recognized the man as Captain America, a strangely patriotic man otherwise known as Steve Rogers. Frozen in ice for seventy years, lost the love of his life yada yada yada. It was all a bunch of depressing stuff. But the really bad stuff was that he couldn't get drunk! Loki wasn't really one for alcohol, but it was still rather disheartening.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing," he said.

Loki stood up, insult ready at the back of his throat, "The soldier," He smirked as he stood up, "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time." The "Qiunjet" arrived. A machine gun pointed toward Loki.

Natasha Romanoff spoke through a speaker, "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down!"

Instead of obeying, Loki sent a bolt of magic straight at the Quinjet. The driver maneuvered around it, and while Loki was preoccupied, Captain America through his shield at Loki. It made contact and he was thrown backwards. He landed and scowled. Then he proceeded to duke it out with Cap.

He flung Cap to the ground and Cap through his shield. Loki glowered and swatted the metal disk as if it were nothing but a Frisbee. Cap jumped up and boxed at Loki, who was quite entertained by the idea of a mortal attempting to hurt him, with fists no less. He knocked Cap down again and pressed the spear tip against said mortal.

"Kneel," He said, angry and tired, but satisfied.

"Not today." Cap flipped up and knock the lost prince away with his flying leg. Loki got up again and re-flipped Cap, as the fight ensued with both contenders battling their hardest. Loki was practically shivering-and he never shivered-with adrenaline as he attempted to squish out another mortal life.

The Quinjet wasn't doing anything, and Loki could only assume that it was because of all his illusions, which were all exact replicas of himself. He was winning, he knew the mortal was growing weary. He also knew that this had been long enough for the rest to get away, and that he too would not be able to take much more of this.

Just as he was sure he had secured his victory, a hardcore rock song and a flash of light dashed all hopes of triumph. Here came another one. Another pest. A metal pest. The famed "Iron Man" shot him to the ground and touched down in front of him. He pulled out what seemed to be every weapon he had, all pointing toward Loki himself.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games."

Loki bristled at the unflattering remark, wanting to rip out Tony Stark's incredibly mortal heart, but when faced with to overpowered men and a whole lot of explosives, he was forced to give in. He let his doppelgangers dissipate, along with his armor. He held his hands up in surrender.

The two men exchanged an awkward glance, speaking hurriedly, "Mr. Stark."

"Captain."

Loki felt that at least they might provide a little bit of entertainment, them being so different. He hoped that they would fight. Life as a hostage could be so boring. He knew this from speaking to the other prisoners on Asgard. Things got pretty boring up there.

He watched the Quinjet's decent, knowing that soon he would be back in an enclosed space. He hated enclosed spaces. He didn't mind being alone, he quite enjoyed sitting unaccompanied in any space, but when he wasn't alone, when there was another annoying life form in there with them, well, let's just say after a while he was the only living thing in the area. He was dragged into the jet and strapped to a chair. He knew there was no escape and he could feel the others eyes on him.

There was no point in struggling, and though he knew he could get out quite easily had he chosen to, there was no real point. He was already in the jet. He had no idea how to fly it, so even if he killed everyone in the vicinity, which he knew he could, he would only end up falling to earth and probably dying. No, he would remain in the mortal's custody until he saw fit to release himself.


	8. Chapter 7-Ok Seriously, Why Me?

CHAPTER 7

Ok Seriously, Why Me

Amber had been watching the entire thing, from the crowd of terrified Germans, to the fight with Captain freaking America and freaking Loki! And then freaking Iron Man showed up and Amber was freaking out! She had seen his tower, Stark Tower, in Manhattan! It was huge, magnificent, and (unfortunately) heavily guarded. She'd watched the making of it from all around, above as well. It was like a beacon. A beacon that read "nice giant building, here! If you blow me up, I will cause a catastrophic amount of damage that will result in many deaths!" Oh how she wished she could destroy it. But alas, she could do nothing but watch famous, rich Tony Stark sit in his MANSION and hang out with his GIRLFRIEND! Who loved him. BLEGH.

She shook her head to clear it and watched as Loki got rid of his armor and the rest of him vanished. His funny helmet thing also went, leaving his greasy black hair uncovered. He had surrendered. Rather boring, but she supposed there had to be a reason behind it. And all the reasons were pointing at Loki, smoking and just waiting to blow hid face off. The two super heroes loaded the lost prince into the jet and got in themselves. Amber prepped her magic, climbing uneasily into the air, not wanting to miss anything interesting. Soon they were very high in the sky, and Amber was finding it a little hard to breathe. She could go higher than a normal human being, she knew that much. Normal human beings found it hard to breathe on top of Mount Everest. Been there, done that, stole the T-shirt.

The fact that she was beginning to feel faint worried her, but she pressed on, knowing that sooner or later she would be falling from the sky. She was almost glad when a bolt of lightning cracked down toward her, before she realized that it was lightning. She had never been struck by lightning before. She imagined that it would be painful. Very, very painful. Time seemed to slow down as the pure electricity arched into her. She braced for impact, but it never came. She opened her eyes, and gasped.

All around her was blue and white, crackling energy. She felt nothing. Her head tilted upwards and her arms extended, while her legs came together. Her eyes closed again and she felt herself float there, no effort going into her flying. The lightning went as soon as it came, but she felt energized. She looked up again, and then moved forward a little. Nothing happened. She breathed in. She breathed out. She began to feel light headed again, and remembered the altitude. The jet was swerving and more lightning was emanating off of it. She saw a figure on top of it, red cape swirling.

He was blonde, bearded, with armor and clothes similar to Loki's. He wore a serious expression and held a hammer. She had never seen, nor heard of a man like this, and watched, mesmerized, and he opened the ramp and grabbed Loki, then flew off. _Flew_ off. As in flew. Not jumped, not fell, flew.

He was traveling very fast, nearly to fast, but all the built up energy inside Amber gave her a bit of a speed boost. She zipped off after them. She found them on a mountain ledge, Loki groaning and the other one, well, electrifying. He clutched a hammer and seemed a little ticked off.

Some of that anger seemed to melt away as he gazed at Loki. Amber would have said they were brothers if they hadn't seemed so different. The man was all muscle, bearded and blonde. The typical surfer dude type that she always made sure to pickpocket when they came to town because of how annoying and rich they all were.

On the other hand, Loki was thin, black haired and clean-shaven. His eyes were ice, shining and intimidating. Intelligent looking and sly, dark, mad. He was inquisitive, always examining, while the other one was a bit more smashy-smashy.

The buff one spoke, and his voice was deep and commanding, "Where is the Tesseract?" He asked.

Amber knew it was back in the laboratory with that Selvig man, but the man didn't.

"I missed you to!" laughed Loki. That meant that this man came from Asgard as well.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?!" Asked the man, or more likely, god. Amber thought it was rather unlikely that the answer was yes, but if it was, she hoped it was manhunt. She really loved manhunt. She always won.

"Oh, you should thank me. With the Bifrost gone how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here, your precious Earth?"

The rest of the other man's anger seemed to melt away and there was a small sparkle in his eye that wasn't just lightning. He pulled Loki to his feet, and grasped his shoulder, "I thought you dead."

Wait, dead? Loki, dead? That didn't make any sense. Amber listened closer.

"Did you mourn?" asked Loki, quite calmly for a man who was supposed to be diseased.

"We all did. Our father-

"Your father," Loki snapped, turning away from his brother, "He did tell you of my true parentage, did he not?"

OHMYGOD! Loki had family issues, too! Strange, but as Amber thought about it, they had a lot of things in common. They both had family problems, they both were conniving. They were both twisted.

The man spoke again, this time sounding hurt, "We were raised together, we played together, we fought together! Do you remember none of that?"

"I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss! I was and should be king!" Woah, so that was what he was after. A throne. Interesting.

"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights?! No, the Earth is under my protection, Loki!"

Loki laughed, "And you're doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves, while you idly threat. I mean to rule them. And why should I not?"

"You think yourself above them?"

"Well, yes."

Amber nearly laughed out loud, but then remembered that Loki might be able to sense her. Remembering that, she chose to land above them on the mountainside and stay there.

"Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. The throne would suit you ill."

Loki shoved his brother, angrily. He walked up to the ledge, then turned around. "I've seen worlds you've never known about! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile! I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it-

"Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be-king?"

"I am a king!"

"Not here! You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream! You come home." Home? To Asgard? Hmmm, that would be cool. Loki, however, was still busy arguing about the Tesseract.

"I don't have it. You need the cube to bring me home, but I've sent it off I know not where," He said, smiling. The other one summoned his hammer to his hand and held it menacingly.

"You listen well, brother. I-

Amber saw Iron Man tackle the man midsentence and they both crashed into the trees.

Loki stood there, and uttered the most hilarious words that could possibly be used after his interrupted brother, "I'm listening."

Amber couldn't help it. It just sort of burst out of her mouth. She laughed.

Loki turned around. He had heard a sound coming from behind him. He examined the place, and his eyes fixed on a ledge just a little higher than his own. He could sense a presence, but was confused by it. The girl was supposed to be dead, and if she wasn't, why would she be out here in the middle of nowhere, anyway? He asked himself this, and decided that if he spoke to her, and she was there, she would hear him. No one else would, so he didn't have to worry about being thought mad.

"Who are you?" he asked the empty air on the ledge.

No answer.

"I am Loki of Asgard, and I command you to respond!"

Still no answer.

He thought about this for a little bit, and then chose something a little less forceful.

"I won't hurt you," he said, in a much quieter voice then before.

At first, nothing. Then, a response.

"Promise?" It asked, still not appearing.

The voice was small, fearful. He couldn't help but feel elated that he was finally going to meet this girl, to find out if there were more of her. Of course, she seemed quite powerful, but that may just be an illusion. If she was alone, he would squash her. She was most likely a S.H.I.E.L.D spy. He answered in the most sincere voice he could muster.

"I promise."

The air on the ledge shimmered and a girl appeared, crouched low. Dirty blonde hair, grimy face and hands, bright blue eyes. She had the look of a puppy who had been hit to many times. Loki felt no pity toward her, he knew that she could be fierce. He had seen her growling last time they'd met face-to-face. Though she was scared now, she was also capable.

"Now answer my question," Loki told her, "Who are you?"

She seemed to think about this for a little while, but apparently came to the conclusion that there was no point in hiding it. Her eyes were slowly changing from bright blue to more of a green color. Hmm, he would have to ask her about that. At long last, she answered him, "My name is Amber."

He tilted his head inquiringly, waiting for her to continue. She got the message, but what she said was unhelpful, "That's it. Nothing else. No parents." She was telling the truth. He felt nothing.

"And, your eyes?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your eyes, they're changing color."

"Oh, that. I don't really know what's happening. It's something to do with my mood, I think." She did not continue, and a silence fell.

Suddenly, she asked a question, of her own accord. She was watching the fight with Iron Man vs Thor intently, and she just asked him a question, "So, you're after world domination?"

Just the way she said it, as if it were as casual as anything, made Loki chuckle, "Yes," He told her, but felt no recoil from her. As if she was totally cool with him taking over Midgard. She was simply curious, wondering what was going on.

He decided to tell her the truth, knowing that he was much more powerful and that if S.H.I.E.L.D was trying to find out about it, they would just have to ask Thor. "Yes, I am," He told her, and instead of the expected reaction of "You're a monster!" he saw the first real smile he had ever seen cross her dirty face. He felt like smiling, too, knowing that a little girl was excited by the prospect of her world being taken over by a homicidal maniac.

"Cool," She said, still grinning. He stood up and the grin turned into a snarl as she scurried backward, away from him. He could tell that she didn't trust him at all, that she was afraid of him. She just found it interesting that he was going to take over Midgard. Strange kid, but also rather funny.

He turned away hunkering down to watch the fight, to watch two people he hated more than anyone else beat each other up. She startled him by asking him another question, "Who's the annoying one with the hammer?"

Loki really did laugh this time, and then responded, "That's Thor. He is quite annoying."

"Your brother?"

He turned around, snarling, "He's not my brother!"

She retreated further away from him, looking fearfully around. He had not meant to scare her. He still had things he needed to ask her. He decided on the most pressing one, if there were more humans like her.

"Are you the only human with, you know, magic?"

"As far as I know."

Good, he thought, though he didn't say that out loud. He instead asked her something else.

"What can you do with your, uh, _powers_?"

She looked at him, confusedly, and then answered him slowly, "Only what I have demonstrated up to this point. I can make most people unable to see or hear me. That's it."

He could tell that she was lying, but didn't press the matter. He knew that he was much more powerful than her, and only wanted to gauge her abilities. If she wasn't going to tell the truth, he would just have to figure it out himself. He asked another question, an important one. "Are you a spy?"

"Hell no!" She responded. She was, indeed, telling the truth. He relaxed a little, knowing that she was not relaying any information to other people. She was, at least, not going to tell anyone that could prove to be an enemy.

"What do you mean, 'hell no'?"

"Well," she said, "Hell is a bad place, and I was using it as emphasis for how I am _not_ a spy."

"Hmm," he said, not really paying attention. The jet was coming back and Iron Man and Thor, as well as Captain America, were all coming back.

He turned back to Amber, only to find that she had disappeared again. He sighed, spinning around to face the oncoming heroes, thinking only of how strange and dangerous this little girl could be, not noticing her as she watched everything unfold. From the top of the Quinjet.


	9. Chapter 8-Captured

Chapter 8

Captured

Amber was literally riding on top of the Quinjet. It was fun, as well as terrifying. The wind rushed through her hair and her eyes watered when she tried to keep them open, so she closed them, holding on for dear life. It had been a couple hours, and they were above the ocean. She saw through the water, all the way to the bottom of the ocean. She watched fish, sharks, whales, and much, much more swim around the sea. She had been able to do this for ever. Living in Manhattan, she had often had a good view of the ocean. She loved to watch the city of creatures swirl around in schools of fish. She had never been in the water. She wanted to, but since she only had one pair of clothes and she had no idea how to swim, it was not a good idea.

So it was not very good for her when she came, plummeting to toward the ocean.

She was too startled, and too close, to stop herself. It was impossible. She could slow her fall, so that she wouldn't pass out when she came in contact, but that was it. She summoned magic and it worked. She slowed down a little bit, but she was already nearly there. She closed her eyes, and felt herself tense. All her muscles clenched up and she bared her teeth. She crashed into the water, sinking.

She breathed in.

She breathed out.

She felt herself relax as she opened her eyes.

She nearly screamed.

She was on the ground, surrounded by bright light! She could see for miles around her! Everything was as clear as if she weren't underwater at all, but on land, on a particularly warm and sunny day. She sighed, and then caught her breathe. Breathe. She was breathing! She tried again, and breathed easily. She smiled and looked up. Something giant, a boat, was directly above her. She spread her arms wide and rocketed through the water to it. She reached the top of the sea and stood up. Yes, she was standing on water, but that wasn't the strangest thing that had happened that night, so she wasn't that perplexed.

She climbed onto the ship as the sun began to rise, and gasped as she saw the sight that awaited her. Of course, that was before she was stunned and fainted. Apparently, she had forgotten to put up her guard. Damn it.

* * *

Loki walked through the Helicarrier, guarded by, like, ten people, all in black. He saw people looking at him, and smiled, craftily, at Doctor Banner. He looked back, worriedly, distracted from his examination of Loki's scepter. Loki knew that he was going back to an enclosed space. If they had the monster on board, they would no doubt have a containment chamber for him. Obviously Loki was going to borrow it. He rolled his eyes at the sky, still grinning.

They dragged him to a circular room, took his handcuffs off and threw him unceremoniously into a small round glass cage. He examined it, the floor, the ceiling, the glass walls, and the bench surrounding the inside. This was rather plain, he thought, but still, it could be worse. The man known as Fury came in, dismissing the other soldiers.

He walked up to the control panel of the cell. When he reached it, he spoke, "In case it is unclear. You try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass…" He pressed a button on the panel and the hatch under Loki's cage opened, causing wind to blow through the room. Loki peered down as much as he could, seeing a gaping hole that revealed the land below them. Of course, he thought, they were flying. Pfft. Mortals.

"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?!" Fury closed the hatch, then pointed at Loki, "Ant," he pointed at the button, "Boot."

Loki smirked, ignoring the threat, "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard," Loki looked at the security camera, knowing that Banner was watching, "The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh. It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is."

"Well," Fury smirked, "You let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." Fury walked off, and when he got to the door, more soldiers came and talked to him. Two were holding chains apparently attached to midair.

"What's this?" Fury asked one, a woman.

"She seems like just a kid, Sir, but we have reason to believe that she is more than that. One of our agent's claims to have seen her walking on water, and many of us still can't see her. She's definitely there, though. She tried to escape once already. She killed two of our agents in the process and broke another one's leg. "

Fury bent down on one knee, to speak to thin air, "Reveal yourself."

"No."

"What did you say?"

"I said no, _Sir._ Or are you as deaf as you are blind?" Loki had to admit that she was being quite bold.

"Very well then." Fury gestured to the cage, and the soldiers holding her arms opened the door and threw her quite forcefully into the chamber. She crashed into the opposite side and fell to the floor, visible and bleeding from the head.

Fury looked at her wide eyed as she straightened up, red eyed and electrifying. She growled, angrily, then turned away a sat against the wall, opposite from Loki. She still seemed afraid of him, and now he was beginning to be a little fearful of her himself. She was quite terrifying when angry like this. Now, though, it was fading away, replaced by a look of lethargy. Her head injury seemed minor, and she wasn't acknowledging it.

Eventually, Fury and the other agents left, and Amber relaxed, eyes slowly turning to green. Loki watched her examine the cell, looking for an opening in the structure which she could escape through. Finding nothing, she sat back down, put her head against the glass, and closed her eyes.

Loki could tell that she wasn't really asleep, just relaxing. He too relaxed, then stood up and began to pace. He really was bored, so he walked around. It was rather spacious, though not very large. Amber opened one eye, then closed it again and pushed herself farther into the wall.

She obviously didn't trust him at all. She was staying out of his way, ignoring him for the most part. He didn't mind. It was as if she wasn't there, as she never spoke or really moved. He spent most of that hour pacing, then sat down and thought.

Being a hostage was as boring as he'd expected, but he hadn't expected there to be a cellmate. By now, he was wishing that she would speak, but it was unlikely she would start any discussions with him, or anyone else. He decided that if he wanted to talk to her, he would have to begin it.

"So, walking on water, huh?"

"Do me a favor and shut up," She said, almost immediately. Woah, shot down. She was very efficient. He couldn't do anything but goggle at her for a moment, then smiled and continued.

"You lied to me. That isn't good."

She opened her eyes, and he saw that they were red again, "Magic takes energy you know. I can't concentrate on not dying with you blabbing on and on about how lying is a bad thing, you hypocrite."

"Hypocrite? Me?" Loki chuckled.

"You're the god of lies and- Her breathe caught in her throat and she passed out. Loki looked at her, saw she wasn't dead, and went back to pacing. He laughed to himself, finding it funny that she, a little girl, could tell him to shut up. He kept grinning, unaware of the fact that he was being watched.

* * *

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" said Banner, sarcastically. Four people grouped around a glass table. They consisted of Doctor Banner, aka the Hulk, Steve Rogers, or Captain America, Thor, and Natasha Romanoff, sometimes Black Widow. They had just been watching Loki and Fury speaking. Many were still confused about the girl who had also been tossed in, but that wasn't the main problem.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asked.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army?" Steve said seriously, looking out of his element, "From outer space?"

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," explained Banner.

"Selvig?" asked Thor, worriedly.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some sort of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha said, speaking for the first time.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him," Banner said.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha said, seriously.

"He's adopted?"

There was a long silence, and then Steve asked, "I don't understand. Why the girl? She may be magical, but she's just a kid."

"There's no point in trying to convince Fury to let her go. She seems dangerous. She was just conversing with Loki himself, and it seems as though they've met before. She lied to him, it seems," Natasha said.

"Not many people would have the guts to do that," Thor said, impressed but worried, "He knew she was lying. He always does. I'm surprised that she lied to him, knowing that he would know."

"But she's still just a kid."

"We shall see, but I have a feeling she is more powerful then she is letting on."


	10. Chapter 9-Developments

**My apologies for the delay. This took a longer while than I expected, and I hope the next one doesn't take as long to set up. For all you who are still reading, thanks.**

* * *

Chapter 9

Developments

They had been in the cage for about twelve hours. Amber hadn't woken yet. Loki was a little bit worried, but he dismissed it. She was fine. He could see her breathing, and she occasionally moved a bit.

At long last, at very long last, she awoke, yawning and groaning. Loki saw her stretch her back, cat like and open her mouth wide. Her teeth bared and she relaxed. She opened her eyes, blinking a couple times. Her eyes focused on Loki, and she closed her yellow turning blue eyes sighing again. He watched her ignore him, apparently bored.

Finally, he decided to break the silence, "Can I talk now?"

"Do I have a choice?" she responded.

He pretended to consider her question for a second, "No, I don't believe you do."

She opened her eyes and focused on him, "Then why ask?"

It was a good question. There really was no point in asking her a question if he really wasn't going to give her a choice. He changed the subject. "You fainted."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed."

He smirked. She was very bold. He could tell she was scared, but faced with this situation where she had no way out of speaking with him, she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"There's a big cut on your head," he told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, thank you for stating the obvious. I had no idea that my flesh was ripped open."

He noticed that her eyes were a dark purple, and made note of this. So, dark purple meant boredom or defiance, light blue meant fear, red meant anger, and dark green meant curiosity. Hmm.

She turned back to the window, and leaned her forehead against the glass like a tired kid on a long car ride. She really seemed exhausted, even though she'd slept for twelve hours. There were dark shadows under her eyes, and her veins were easily seen. He was feeling a little worried, but he dismissed the feeling.

Eventually, she got up, stretched, and looked around. Loki could see her examining the entire cage, this time out of interest. She was confusing. Very confusing. First she spoke to him as if he was an annoying child, then she completely ignored him. Her fear was wearing off, he could tell. She hadn't trusted him when he had promised that he wasn't going to hurt her. She was a very smart person.

She walked to the door and studied the outside, hands clenched behind her back. Loki watched her, thinking. There was something he was missing. She wasn't dirty. Her skin, it was pale. The normal sheet of dirt that used to cover her was gone. The water. She must have gone swimming. Unintentionally, of course, but when walking on water, you would no doubt get wet. He had never tried it, but she obviously had.

She turned back around and walked to the other side to examine the outside. She was basically scanning the entire room, looking for what, he did not know.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, confused.

"I'm looking for weaknesses."

He smiled, glad to be able to tell her something she didn't know. He didn't know where this childish competitive feeling came from, but he felt like he did when he was young, with his brother, "Fury says that if we break this, we die."

She turned toward him, eyebrows raised. He realized how childish that had sounded and tried to revise it, "I mean, if anything happens to the case, the entire cage falls into the ground below."

"I'm glad they've changed _something_ , though they could've been a little more original."

"You've been here before?"

"Yeah, I have. It was much more boring last time, though. At least now I have something to fight back with."

He was intrigued. It was strange, but there it is. He shook himself.

"You're from Asgard."

"Uh huh."

"And…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're a god, right?"

"Yes."

"And you can do magic, right?"

"Yes."

She was looking at him, excitedly. Her normally sad eyes alight with expectancy, dark green eyes glowing. Suddenly it dawned on him what she was asking.

He smiled, mischievously. She wanted him to do magic. Very well then. If she wanted magic, she would get magic. She gasped as he disappeared easily, and shrieked when he whispered in her ear, "Be careful what you wish for."

She jumped up, grabbing the ceiling, and kicked him twice in the chest. Or tried to, at least. She missed and he grabbed her foot. She closed her eyes and scrunched up her face in concentration. An electric current shot down her limb and Loki let go, wincing.

* * *

Loki reappeared, looking at her strangely. Amber was surprised and a little scared about what he might do to her for zapping him, but after a moment, he laughed. It was the strangest thing. One moment he was all threatening and deadly, the next he was laughing at her. She found that she was laughing too.

Then it hit her. Zapping. Electricity. Lightning. The night. The storm… OHMYGOD! It was like the water, it took an experience to bring the power out of her. She decided to try more. To stop Loki's laughing. She stomped her foot and sent a shock wave. Loki jumped uncharacteristically, looking surprised.

It was Amber's turn to laugh. He just looked so hilarious with all his hair on end, that she couldn't help herself. He looked at her, unreadable, then burst out laughing himself. Amber knew that her hair must be static as well, and felt her ponytail. Sure enough, it was all puffed up. Many moments later, she finally stopped laughing. Loki did as well. For a moment, Amber smiled at him, forgetting her fear, and he smiled back. Then he turned away, sitting down and looking through the window. Hmm, she thought, I think I'll play a little game with him.

Now that the barrier come down, and they were speaking freely, though fleetingly, she thought she'd take it to the next level. Annoy them for fun. She knew he'd hate it, but she'd love it, and besides, she really wanted to see his reaction. She would start at once.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey Loki."

He looked up at her, inclining his head. She grinned wickedly, saying nothing, and he just kept looking at her. Finally, she decided to continue, as he wasn't showing any immediate threat, like wanting to kill her. She chose her next words carefully, as to not offend, "You have a scary face."

He rolled his eyes at her and looked back out the window. Amber just had to try harder, so she concocted a scheme that was sure to annoy him. For a while, nothing happened, she sat and played with the glass, breathing on it and playing with the water that condensed on its surface. She couldn't do anything with it, besides breathe in it and stand on it, apparently. It was a bit of a letdown, but it was sure to be useful in the future, when they got out. Until then, she would just have to wait. To be perfectly honest, she was still forming a plan, something to say.

When the time finally came, she got up from her seat and walked to sit across from him. Her plan began, "So, you're an Assguardian, right?"

He looked at her again, smirking a little, "Asgardian."

"So, you're the guardian of the ass? Whose ass are you guarding?"

"The king's ass, I suppose," said, smile growing wider.

"Your father?"

"He's not my father!"

"Ok, ok, I get it. Daddy issues," she said, calmingly.

"No, I mean we're not at all related. We're different races, and he lied to me at birth!"

"Honestly, I can't understand what you're so worked up about. It's better than being dumped on the curb left as food for seagulls and cannibals."

"It's not like that!"

"Well, tell me then!"

He seemed to consider this, but then Amber remembered that there were no private conversations here. She hastily stopped him, though he didn't seem as though he would share his backstory anyway. She pointed at the camera and nodded at him. He stopped and looked at it as well, smirking maliciously. And back in the prep room, he was seen.

* * *

"They are hitting it off quite well, apparently," Steve commented.

"Yes, they are. I have never seen my brother like this. It's unusual to see anyone, a child especially, speak so freely with him," Thor said, "It is very disconcerting, but it has been a while since I saw him play a harmless prank on someone, and to no one's expense. This child is changing him, and I have hopes that it will turn out with my old brother back again."

"You really miss him, don't you?" asked Steve.

"More than anything."

"I know how you feel. I used to have a friend, Bucky. He was a brother to me, but then there was a train and I couldn't save him. Seventy years and things haven't changed much," Steve gulped, and dismissed himself to the lab.

Thor stayed, thinking about his brother and the Amber girl. Many things were undetermined when it came to her, but she was definitely powerful. And was definitely changing his brother. He just hoped that it was for the best. His brother was especially childlike around her, and there was no doubt that she brought out the best in Loki, like they were when they had been kids, always together and competing foolishly. Loki was still somewhere in there, still his friend, still his brother. No mortal, not even Steve, could possibly understand the despair, the misery that it induced. It was terrible, ever present, tearing at his heart like a disease, like an infection. He wished, more than anything, that he could just have his old brother back.

Loki had disappeared, had frightened her, all for fun. And they had laughed for five minutes together. Like two siblings, school friends, father and daughter. And the worst part was that she was a child, homeless and alone. But maybe that was the best part. They were uncannily similar, almost identical in their lives. Loki and Amber were both orphans, both magical, and both had an aptitude for madness and chaos. It was what they did best. They complimented each other, like twins, they went together.

The magic was quite strange, he thought. She had used electricity, it was obvious. It had shot through her leg and shocked his brother, and in more ways than one. She had also been reported to have been walking on water. And she had been unseen by a few people when they had brought her in. She definitely had magic in her, but not a good grip on them as far as anyone could see. She seemed like a harmless prankster, but Fury thought that she was more capable. Thor thought that she was just a child who had been dragged into something much bigger than her, and deserved to be set free, but maybe it was better that she stayed. She was changing his brother, he saw it. His brother was kinder to her than to anyone else.

He was thinking about this when he walked into the room full of computers and people sitting at them. He instantly composed himself into a vision of a god, strong and powerful. He walked over to a monitor with the face and recording of Jane Foster as Agent Coulson walks up to stand by him, "As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster. We've got an excellent observatory in Traunsee. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe."

"Thank you," Thor said, genuinely, "It's no accident, Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man."

"He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here."

"They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we-we come here battling like Bilchsteim."

"Like what?" Coulson asked, clueless.

"Bilchsteim. You know; huge, scaly, big antlers," he said, gesturing with his hands, "You don't have those?"

"Don't think so."

"They are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path," Thor explained, walking over to the side of the ship and looked out through the window, "When I first came to earth, Loki's rage followed me here and your people paid the price. And now again. In my youth I courted war."

Fury appeared at the top of a staircase, "War hasn't started yet." He walked in, intimidating in the same trench coat and eye patch, "You think you can make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?"

"I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves, it's vengeance upon me. There's no pain that would prize his need from him."

"A lot of guys think that, until the pain starts."

"What are you asking me to do?" Thor questioned.

"I'm asking what are you prepared to do?"

"Loki is a prisoner!"

"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat who wants to be here?"

Thor did not answer. He was too worried.

* * *

 **Hope you liked it! XD**


	11. Chapter 10-Interview and Escape

**Sorry, I spent the night in** **a no-internet zone (my grandmother's house) so I'm glad I got to posting a chapter. Thanks!**

* * *

Chapter 10

Interview and Escape

Loki paced around the cage, thinking. Amber was asleep and he was enjoying the silence. She was annoying, but also small and funny. He couldn't stay angry with her, but he had a plan to get her back. He was still figuring it out. But he could sense a presence behind him that he first had to address. "There's not many people that could sneak up on me," he turned around to find Natasha Romanoff standing outside his cage.

"But you figured I'd come."

"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."

"I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton."

"I'd say I've expanded his mind," Loki grinned, speaking the partial truth.

"And once you've won, once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?"

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki mocked.

"Love is for children, I owe him a debt."

Loki sat down opposite from here, watching her, "Tell me."

She pulled up a chair and sat down as well, looking at him, "Before I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D, I, uh-well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skillset. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call."

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" Loki asked, intrigued.

"Not let you out."

"Ah, no, but I like this. Your world out of balance and you bargain for one man?"

"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian…or was."

"What is it you want?" Loki asked her.

"It's really not that complicated. I've got red on my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."

"Can you?" Loki asked, enjoying the immediate change in her face, "Can you wipe out that much red? Drakov's daughter? Sáo Paulo? The hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself is going to change anything?" he stood, angrily, though happy to watch her squirm, "This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer-PATHETIC! You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away!"

Loki slammed his fist against the wall of his cell, making Romanoff flinch and causing Amber to wake up, startled, "I won't touch Barton, not until I make him kill you! Slowly. Intimately. In every way he knows you fear! And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!"

Natasha turned away, disgusted and distraught. "You're a monster," she said quietly, in a wavering voice.

Loki laughed, "No, you brought the monster."

Natasha turned back, fully poised, "So, Banner, that's your play."

"What," Loki asked, confused.

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well," Natasha said through an earpiece. Then she turned back to Loki, serious expression on her face, "Thank you for your cooperation." She walked out of the room, leaving Loki frozen.

"Wow," Amber said, making Loki grind his teeth, "Intense."

He turned around and scowled at her. Her grin shattered and she backed away, crouching, her eyes turning bright, fearful blue. He smiled malevolently and walked toward her, cornering her. He leaned over her and used magic to project himself next to him as well. She pressed herself into the wall and curled up, shrinking in on herself like a collapsing in like a tent. She was baring her teeth and her eyes were darting from one Loki to the other and she continued to look between him, Loki to Loki. He kept walking toward her, sloping over her, still smirking cruelly. Finally she looked at him, the other him, and snapped out with her leg.

The fake Loki felt nothing. The real Loki, however, felt pain. She had snap-kicked him in the groin. He doubled over in pain, gasping, and the illusion disappeared. Amber grinned, until, that is, he tried to grab her. She ducked under his arm and whirled around him, bouncing off the walls and laughing her head off. He eventually started laughing too, and soon they were slowing for breathe. Loki looked at her again, and saw that to his amazement, her eyes were a new color. Bright, sunshine yellow. It was the first time he had seen her happy before, and suddenly he felt it too. Damn it! It was contagious!

He shook his head to clear it, and found that it was full of the image of her eyes. He grabbed his face, and sighed into it, releasing the mental picture. It was time to think. No doubt his soldiers would be coming soon, and he had to be ready. But she looked so happy, and she was a little kid, and he couldn't help but smile as well. She was funny, young, and a little bit menacing when she had to be. He somehow knew she could be a powerful ally, if she ever gained her full strength, but until then, why not help her out, get her there. She was basically a magic novice, and he was quite experienced. So he would teach her. The fun way.

She was hanging by her feet in seconds, and Loki was chortling at her. She flashed him a dirty look, and shut her eyes, all emotion drained from her face. She closed her mouth tight and he could see her fingers twitching. Suddenly he was on his knees, freezing. Well, not freezing. He couldn't physically feel cold temperatures, but other things happened to him when it got cold enough.

Like, for instance, him turning into a blue, red eyed, ten foot tall frost giant.

* * *

Amber felt herself drop to the ground as she watched the large, blue thing that was Loki. She thought it was awesome. She walked around him once, then backed away, taking the image of him in blue and adding it to her ever growing list of things she should bring up when he was most angry. It went as soon as it came, and he was immediately back to normal. She stared at him, still grinning. He looked at her fleetingly, then looked away. She shrugged and walked to her normal place across from him and sat down, exhausted. Only then did she realize just how cold it suddenly was.

She sat there, shivering, trying to close her eyes and sleep. Her breathe was coming in quick gasps and she could see it in the air. This was what happened when she tried to freeze the water particles in the air. Damn her curiosity.

She curled up, all appendages drawn in close to her body, and leaned up against the glass. She could barely feel her toes and it struck how long she had been without food. Her stomach grumbled and she hid her face close to her body. Her eyes closed and her teeth gritted. Suddenly, the cold feeling went away. She looked up to see Loki, sitting next to her, smiling. She leaned up against him and closed her eyes again, relaxing and huddled near him. She slept well that night, and awoke refreshed and ready for a new day of turmoil and boredom.

Loki was asleep next to her and she shook him awake, backing out of the range of his arms. He didn't stir, so she slowly advanced toward him, ready to spring back at any moment. She poked him, and yelled as he awoke and grabbed her wrist. His eyes adjusted and he let go, grinning. Then he ruffled her hair and got up, sighing. She walked to the other side of the cage, near the door. Something was happening out there, outside the detention room. Yells and booms resonated from above and below. Loki looked alert and Amber couldn't blame him. Her reflexes were going haywire as she tried not to flip out and jump at every sound. Manhattan for her was a predator versus prey scenario, her being the prey.

She really did jump when Loki grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. She looked at him inquiringly and he sighed again, "There are people out there, my people. They won't hurt you if you do that thing where you hide yourself. Best do that for everyone, so you don't get shot and die in agony."

She glared at him for a second, then burst out laughing, "You're joking, right? I've been invisible ever since I woke up! My prey instincts are, like, making me crazy! Of course I'm invisible. You shouldn't be able to see me! And as for getting shot, well, I've had worse." She smiled and looked out of the window again, excited. What was going on? She could here gunshot and screams of pain, along with the unmistakable whirring of helicopters. She turned back to Loki, but he was gone.

God, she hated him. She looked around, and then sat down, bored again. Nothing was happening. Why did all the agents get to have all the fun? She wished she was up there, getting shot at by random people. But she was stuck here, safe, in an uneventful room with an invisible psychopath. So unfair.

* * *

Loki was standing right in front of her, looking down at her tired face and slouched posture. He enjoyed watching her. It was funny, seeing her fight her animal-like instincts and remain sitting. He could see her muscles clench every time a thud was heard, or a scream, or a gun. It was as if she was having a miniature seizure as she fought to keep in control of herself. She was looking for him, with an element of worry, and he felt a connection to her that he had never felt to anyone. He bent down and placed a hand on her shoulder. She shuddered, losing control of herself and all hell broke loose.

She howled and he grinned, not reappearing. Her eyes flashed and her teeth bared. She looked around wildly, and he felt himself reach out to her. He stopped himself and laughed out loud. She twirled to face his general direction and he backed up. She had the look of a wild animal, fearful and willing to kill. She was like a lost puppy who had been hit to many times, sad and afraid. He instantly regretted grabbing her and knelt to her level, appearing. She looked at him and then slapped him full in the face.

He stumbled backward, holding his cheek and glaring at her, angrily. She glared right back and stuck out her tongue. He walked away, secretly smiling to himself. He would still get her back, he would find a way. She was a tough one to prank, mostly because she had better senses then many. But he would find a way.

A guard, one of his, burst into the room. Loki nodded to him and indicated the control panel. The man crossed over and flipped the switch that opened the door. Loki got out and Amber practically leaped with joy for freedom. She ran around the room, jumping and bounding all over everything. Finally she halted on the opposite side of the room, and shook herself. Loki dismissed the soldier and then turned to her, "Are you coming?"

She stared at him for a second, as if he was crazy. She apparently couldn't believe what she was hearing, and he felt a twinge of guilt in the pit of his stomach. He repeated, "Well, come on!"

She really glowed, light emitting out of her, and she beamed from ear to ear. She stared at him, and he gestured for her. She jumped clean over the cage did the strangest thing she'd ever done.

She hugged him.

Her arms were laced around his waist and he felt all warm and fuzzy inside, and not like that acid feeling before vomiting. She was surprisingly warm, and he could feel her ribs sticking into his abdomen. She let go quickly, still glowing.

He felt himself grinning down at her, and she at him. He ruffled her hair, "You might want to stay here, because I've got something entertaining who should be here in a minute. Stand back watch."

She did, walking back to stand by the panel. He watched her walk away and then hid near the door, projecting himself back in the cage. He heard a rumble, an annoying sound that could only be produced by his idiot brother. He made himself walk down the ramp just as Thor blundered in, carrying Mjölnir menacingly.

He saw fake Loki walking out of the cage and ran at him, tackling him in the waist. Well, actually, going through him, and crashing into the other side of the cell. Loki appeared at the console and closed the door. Thor stood there, confused.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?"

Thor slammed Mjölnir into the glass, and the cage shuddered but only cracked. Loki stood there in caution, as did the new guard that entered.

"The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?" Loki asked, hand hovering over the button. But then his guard dropped like a stone, and Agent Coulson entered, a large weapon in his hands.

* * *

 **I was thinking of continuing the to another book after I finish this one. Please send me your responses.**


	12. Chapter 11-Loki Lacks Conviction

**So, how was your Thanks Giving? I'm a vegetarian, so I ate, like, a breadstick. That was it. One single, stinking breadstick.**

* * *

Chapter 11

Loki Lacks Conviction

"Move away, please."

Loki moved away from the control panel, staring at Coulson and his weapon.

"You like this?" Coulson asked, hefting the large gun, "We started working on the prototype after you sent The Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?"

Amber really, really wanted to find out, mostly because it looked a lot like a nuclear issue.

Real Loki appeared behind Coulson and shanked him. Blood spurted out of the wound as the tip of his spear poked through Coulson's jacket.

"No!" Thor yelled. Loki dropped Agent Coulson against the wall and, Coulson slumped, breathing fast. Loki stepped over him, making his way to the control panel. He gave his brother one last look, then opened the hatch. Thor looked hopefully at Loki, idiotic. Loki hit the button and the cage fell out of the ship, with Thor inside.

"You're gonna lose."

"Am I?" Loki asked the dying Coulson, smirking.

"It's in your nature."

"Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky. Tell me, where is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction."

"I don't think that I-

The big thing shot a bolt of energy that blew Loki into and through a wall. He landed on his back and got up immediately, snarling.

"So that's what it does."

Loki got up, looked at Amber, and walked out of the area, she at his heel.

"So, your brother is probably dead, Coulson is dead, and a bunch of other agents are dead. Does this mean we're getting out of here?"

He looked at her and she smiled at him jokingly. After a little bit, he grinned back, nodding. Now that she knew him, he wasn't so bad, though she knew that he was going to get her back for all of that stuff she'd done to annoy him. She'd have to watch out for that. She walked beside him down the hall to the exit. She watched him open the door and step out onto the outside.

It was tipping and hard to stand on, but there was a helicopter to escape in. Fresh air! Amber wanted to fly around and around, but she first looked at Loki imploringly. He nodded to her, "We're taking the helicopter."

She looked at him, grinning mischievously. She walked toward the copter, but just as she reached the ramp, she dashed around it and went running off the edge of the Helicarrier. Loki yelled at her to stop, but she just kept going. In a second she was off the ledge, and screaming in joy. She summoned her magic and burst up, into the air, yelling excitedly. Loki just watched her, mouth opened, gasping in awe.

"Didn't see that coming, did you?"

"You can fly!? Why didn't I know you could fly!?"

Amber smiled mysteriously," Because I didn't tell you. Now get in your helicopter. I'll stay out here. OH GOD I MISSED THIS!" She dashed through the air, going around and around, falling and catching herself, showing off for the soldiers. Many stopped to watch her before boarding the chopper, and soon everyone was on. She saw the blades start spinning, and she too took off, zipping close to the ground, to the ocean. She reached open sea, and submerged herself, sinking to the bottom of the ocean, watching the fish and whales and sharks and other things circle around her, engulfing her.

Traveled around under there for a while, then got back out and rose up next to the copter. She looked around for a while, but seeing no sign of sinking or arriving in any way, she fell back down and landed on all fours on the surface of the water. Then she ran, screeching happily and whooping. She watched the ocean life from above and occasionally dodging flying fish and dolphins, running in between them as they wove in and out of the water.

Finally it began to get dark, and the chopper began to get low, along with the sun. She slowed down, getting back into the air, landing on the skids and sitting down. She was noticing how much magic she could do without tiring herself out. She loved having more freedom with this. She hopped off as they landed, waiting for them to exit.

Loki walked out and stared at her. She grinned, "That was fun!"

"It looked fun," Loki smiled.

"I love magic."

"Same here."

Amber was sure that he was telling the truth, mostly because barely anyone, not even he, could not like magic. She looked around, the base. It felt strange, not hiding from everyone. Now she was only hiding from everyone from Loki. He stared at her for a second, then smiled and went inside. She followed him, "Can I drop the invisibility now?"

"Sure, if you don't mind all my minions."

"YAY, I love minions!"

Loki looked at her humorously and called over some of his "minions". A group of scary looking, black dressed, weapon carrying soldiers. Amber glared at them, and they glared at her. She stood back and surveyed them, taking in everything, from the rifles to the skintight outfits.

"Okaaaaaaaaaaay, so I think I'll go back to being invisible."

"Oh, come on," Loki smirked, "Stick around. These people are so nice, and you're so defenseless."

Amber was really feeling scared now. She knew that it was Loki's revenge time, and she also knew that it was gonna be hardcore. Loki was grinning creepily and Amber was itching to run and hide. Of course, Amber thought, why not just fly away.

She dashed toward the building and jumped, nearly making it to the top when she felt herself slow down and fly backwards. She tried to run again, but Loki grabbed her wrist. She flashed him a dirty look and shocked him. He didn't seem to notice. She didn't either. Meaning that it hadn't happened. She swore and slumped to the ground, suddenly exhausted.

She knew that she had more magical abilities, but even her new magical capacity did not allow her to do magic after, like, four or five days without anything but a cucumber, and not even _that_ had stayed down. Her stomach grumbled and she felt like her muscles were crumbling away. A human being could survive without food for three weeks before they died because their half of their heart had been eaten by their body.

When she was younger, she had gone three weeks, more than that, when she was a kid who didn't know how to steal, because she somehow survived getting hit by five cars in a row. This didn't make any sense. Five days wasn't enough to kill her, but she was feeling pretty faint.

Loki was just grinning down at her, carrying her wrist above her head. She was basically about to die, when she felt herself dragged into the building. By her wrist. She pulled herself to her feet and trudged along beside Loki. He just looked down at her and then back up, towards his room. He opened it and she fell onto the bed.

* * *

She was curled up and groaning, bones showing through her ripped up clothes. Loki felt a little guilty, but this was a prank. Oh god, she was really pail now. He watched her writhing and decided that this had gone far enough. He didn't want her to die.

She suddenly lay still. Loki rushed over to her. She wasn't breathing, and she had no pulse. He felt magic cocooning her. She began to hover, floating a foot above his bed. Her eyes were closed, and her body was completely strait.

She was like that for about an hour, and then she stretched and yawned, purring like a cat. Loki got up from his chair and walked over to her. She backed up and growled. Then she leaped off of the bed and onto Loki's back.

He tried to get her off, but she just clung on, slinking around his shoulders.

"Hey, get off," he said.

"You _killed_ me!" Amber said to him.

"If I _had_ killed you, you wouldn't be on my back. Now if you don't get off, I might finish the job."

She looked at him and slowly got off of his shoulders. She got onto the bed and sat down. When Loki turned away, she pounced. She winded her way around his legs, again like a cat. She scurried up his leg and back onto his back. He fell backward onto the bed and she squirmed out from under him. Then she jumped on him and he threw her off. They proceeded to wrestle each other until Loki finally yielded and let her tackle him in the chest.

She got off and he got up, wheezing. She bounded around the room for a while, far too energetic for his liking. He used magic to lift her into the air, and it took her a moment to realize that she was not moving forward, and a little longer to discover that she was in midair.

"Why am I flying? Put me down!"

"I thought you liked flying. You were so exuberant about it!"

She looked at him, frightened, and raised her hands in surrender. He grinned and she turned white. He slowly walked up to her and she tried to backpedal in midair. It didn't work, of course, but he felt something. Like a little gust of wind. Then he felt himself blown backward back onto the bed. Man, he was beginning to hate that bed. She lowered herself and laughed manically.

He got up, "Air? Not air, too. You have water, lightning, and now air. If you light me on fire, or chuck a boulder at my head, I swear I might just kill you."

"Hey, that was an accident. And besides, I doubt I'll ever actually be able to light you on fire."

He just chuckled, rolling his eyes and punching her arm playfully. She punched back lightly and walked out, turning back, "I'm famished."

"I'm not starving you anymore."

"Just because I _can_ survive without food longer than the average human doesn't mean that I find it enjoyable."

"Come on, it's only been five days."

"Yes, but I need something substantial. For me, magic relies on nutrients and stuff like that. No energy, no magic."

"Sorry, but all we have is cucu-

"ENOUGH! Enough with the freaking CUCUMBERS!"

Loki just looked at her. She didn't like cucumbers. Weird kid. He beckoned to her and walked down the hall, she following. He entered the kitchen and a sickening stench squashed itself into his face. He gagged, and Amber covered her mouth. She slowly backed out, dragging Loki with her.

"Oh man, that was disgusting. How does that even happen?"

"Some of my soldiers are quite, uh, immature."

"What even _happened_?"

"I do not know. But I shall punish the soldiers were left home. Oh, that reminds me! I have to introduce you to the Doctor."

She looked at him, confusedly. He grabbed her arm and pulled her down the corridor to the laboratory. When they entered, Amber tried to back out and Loki gripped her arm tighter.

"Hey, Loki!"

Selvig walked up to them and addressed Loki, while staring at the little girl.

"Who's she?"

"This is Amber."

"Amber?"

She just looked at him apprehensively. She was still struggling against Loki's grasp, but him being a fully grown god and she being a mal-nourished, twelve year old girl made it a little easy for him. Selvig knelt down to her level and looked her in the eye, "Hello little girl."

She glared at him angrily and bared her teeth.

"What are you doing?" Loki asked, "He is my scientist. You can't injure my scientist! He doesn't have a warranty."

"Hey, it's not like you're paying him. You can always get a new one. And I'm soooo bored. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeez?"

Loki just looked at her. She was adorable, but he couldn't let her destroy his scientist. He had worked hard to get it.

"Sorry, but I need this guy. He's kind of possessed, so I don't need to worry about him giving me away. Save it for Barton."

"Barton? I thought he was on your side."

"Well, Black Widow hit him pretty hard, so I can't control him anymore."

"That's depressing," Amber sympathized.

"I know right?"

"Hey Loki," Selvig explained.

"Yes?"

"It's time to go."

"Where?" Amber asked Loki, wondering.

He looked at her, smiling, "To Stark Tower!"

* * *

 **I might do another Loki book, but for an older age group, like late teens and up. Please tell me what you think. Thanks.**


	13. Chapter 12-Stealing A Tower

Chapter 12

Stealing a Tower

Amber was quite bored. She was sitting in a private helicopter, next to Loki, Selvig, and a big thing with the Tesseract in it. She hated it so much, she thought she might throw up. Again.

She didn't puke, but instead yawned and stretched. She had been told that there was a long ride, and she was tired, so she decided to take a nap. It was strange, but ever since she got all those new powers, she was acting much more like a cat then she was used to. Normally, she was only slightly like a cat. She slept in the sun, yawned and stretched, and slunk around the city, stealing from dumpsters, birds, and old people.

She slept for an hour or two, and then was shaken awake by Loki. She stretched and yawned again. Loki gasped and she stared at him.

"What? What is it?"

"Your teeth. They're, uh, _sharp_."

Amber felt around her mouth with her tongue, "Oh my god! What the hell? My teeth are growing! This is sooooo coooooooool!"

"No, it's creepy. And your ears are getting all fuzzy, and your eyes are going all cat-like."

"Hey, Selvig?! Do you have a mirror handy?!"

Selvig turned back to respond, but he obviously got sidetracked, "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!"

"Yeah, I get it. I'm growing ears. Now do you have a mirror?" Amber asked, annoyed. She then turned to Loki, "Is this permanent?"

"How should I know?"

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be smart?"

He stared at her evilly, and she automatically drew backward, but then stopped because she realized that there was no point in trying to escape. There were in a small enclosed space, there was no way out.

"I am smart," Loki growled.

"Well, what about this, uh, thing," she gestured around her head as her eyes made the transition from human to cat. Everything got brighter and her growing apparently stopped. Amber yawned again, fangs showing, and her sandpaper tongue lolled out. She looked down and found a fuzzy, clawed hand. She accepted the mirror that a reluctant Selvig handed over.

She looked into it and bounced backward, slamming her head into the wall. She felt it, her ears crinkled under her head. She had black fur around her face except a triangle running down from the corners of her mouth all the way down her chest. The underside of her arms were also white, but the upside was black. One eye was surrounded by a white circle, and the iris was black. The other was white without a circle. She felt agile, like a human slinky. She was still human shaped, but had the body of a humanoid feline, her nose was that of a cat.

She was already bored with the whole transformation thing, and was now wondering if it would suffice as a ski mask for any future robberies. She was totally ready to bust out with her claws and rob a bank or something, because again, boredom. Loki also appeared to have gotten used to her appearance, because he was sitting back and not looking at her at all. Selvig, however, was ogling her with mouth open. He was unnecessary. She wanted to get rid of him. She would bop him with her paw hand thing. She hit him in the forehead. He just kept staring and Loki just kept ignoring her, though she thought she saw him smile faintly.

She beat Selvig again, careful to keep her claws retracted. He shifted slightly but did nothing. When she batted him the third time, he lashed out with his hand to grab her wrist. She hissed and smashed him over the head, rapid fire, three, four, five times. With her claws out. He bled for a while. It was unnecessary. She hit him again. By the time they were landing she had kept herself amused by smacking him a lot and, when she got tired, watching him attempt to quench the flow of blood from the slices in his skull.

When they arrived at Stark Tower, she hopped out and ran around, no longer feeling lazy. She felt herself returning to her natural form and for a minute, she was unable to stand. She collapsed for a second, the fatigue of magic rushing over her. It was gone in a little while, and that was when she returned, finally able to take in the magnificence of the tower. She still hated it, but she had to admit that it was pretty incredible. She could see Manhattan, all of it, and it felt almost as good as when she was flying. She walked right up to the edge, feeling the wind blow her hair and skin. She felt herself go rigid. Something was coming. She could feel it speeding toward her from far, far away.

"Stark's coming. May I meet him in the air? I feel the urge to rip his face mask off along with his skull."

"Sorry Amber, but I have better plans."

Amber felt a little down about that, but still kept herself relatively upbeat, reminding herself that soon she would get to beat up every single person who had kept her contained in the cage. She knew that if she hadn't been caged with Loki he would be more of a threat, but she still didn't trust him. She was sure that, when faced with an unavoidable circumstance, he would let her go, let her die if necessary. She would not let him let her die. But she would not leave him yet. He offered protection, and she wasn't about to pass up an offer like that.

She heard footsteps and turned to find Selvig wrestling the contraption out of the helicopter. She went to help, but was stopped when Loki caught her by the shoulder, "Hey, can we talk?"

She looked at him, and as far as she could tell, he didn't pose any threat, "Sure."

He pulled her inside and shut the door. Selvig was now dragging the thing over to a gravely platform, bending and grunting like a hippopotamus with a back issue. Amber and Loki watched him for a while, like whatever the hippopotamus's predator was probably would. Finally, Loki broke the ice, "Hey, there might be a fight coming up and I was wondering if you might want to, you know, fight in it."

She stared at him, grinning like a maniac again. She would love to. She was ecstatic to. It was such an exciting prospect, fighting everyone. She wanted more than anything to fight, to destroy, to win. Just as long as she didn't get put back in a cage. But the deal got better.

"And I might need you to destroy a few buildings."

At this point, little fireworks were going off inside her head, and she wasn't even surprised when her head lit on fire like a giant candle. Loki wasn't really either. They just laughed, and Amber tried not to set the building alight. She didn't trust him, but she didn't hate him. It was the closest she'd ever been to a friendship.

"But seriously, Stark's coming, and if you don't want me to break his face off, you should go meet him."

"I know," he said, and then he disappeared, reappearing on the extensive balcony outside. His armor was on, along with his helmet. His green cape was really long and flowy. She wanted to set it on fire.

When Stark showed up, she made herself invisible to everyone, and then sat down in a corner to watch. She also felt fur growing all over her face, which meant that she was becoming a stinking cat again. Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. She would really have to work on that.

She felt herself getting tired and relaxed her muscles. Then she curled up and watched comfortably. Man, she was tired, and hungry. She went off to find the kitchen.

Loki looked up at Stark, smiling. He proceeded to walk into the penthouse, Stark imitating him. Loki walked in, holding his scepter. Tony casually walked down the steps, towards the bar. Loki grinned again, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

"Uh, actually I'm planning to threaten you."

Loki chuckled. To think any human could possibly threaten him, "You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the glow stick of destiny. Want a drink?"

Loki smiled again, "Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one," he said, pouring himself a drink and taking a sip.

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers."

Who was that, he wondered. He looked at Stark confusedly.

"It's what we call ourselves," he said, rolling his eyes, "Earths mightiest heroes' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that."

Loki felt a little proud at that. Then Tony continued.

"But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God," Loki scowled and turned away, "A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

Loki wasn't as proud anymore. He went back to grinning, "That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a hulk."

"I thought the beast had wandered off," Loki said, still confused.

"Yeah, you're missing the point. There's no throne, no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki was angry now. How dare this man, this _cowardly_ man, could possibly attempt to intimidate him with such unrealistic threats? He would use this man. He would possess this man. He would _kill_ this man. And he would _love_ it. He walked slowly up to Stark, holding his scepter menacingly, "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?!" He pressed the tip of the spear into Tony's chest, and when it came into contact, there was a clinking noise. He pressed again, and it happened again, "This usually works."

"Well, performance issues. You know, every one out of te-

Loki flung Stark and he landed against the glass. Loki then grabbed Stark's throat and lifted him into the air. He shoved Tony into the glass window overlooking the city of Manhattan, "You will all fall before me!" Loki threw him out the window and watched him freefall to his doom. A crashing noise came from behind him, and he turned to find the elevator opened and another one of those wretched suits flew out. Loki jumped to the side and it shot out of the window.

Loki scowled as Stark came back up in his full red and gold steel iron man suit. Many mortals were gazing up at them with awed looks. Loki looked up at Stark, otherwise known as Iron Man.

"And there's one more person you've pissed off!" he said holding up his deadly fire firing palms, "His name was Phil."

Loki held up his scepter, but Tony shot a blast of energy and Loki fell backwards. Outside, Selvig looked up. Loki followed his gaze and saw with joy that the Chitauri portal had opened and they would soon be flooding out. They did, whirling around the beam that opened up the vortex. Flying chariots spilled out, driven by the blue Chitauri army arming energy rifles.

Iron Man flew off to meet his irksome friends and attempt to destroy his plans for world domination. He knew he would have to stop them, but first he would find Amber. She was basically his lifeline. He knew that she didn't completely trust him yet, and he couldn't blame her. He always knew that she was very intelligent, and this just proved it.


	14. Chapter 13-Showing Off

Chapter 13

Showing Off

Loki sat and watched the Chitauri descend out of the vortex, swirling around like a school of evil demon projectile fish. It was quite incredible, how all of this was Loki's work. Loki had made all of this possible. He was so proud.

Iron man flew off towards the city as mortals flooded the streets, staring up at the portal and the Chitauri. The screams began when the Chitauri fired blasts of blue energy at the millions of buildings, causing pavement to crack, cars to explode, and storefronts to light up like giant bonfires. He smiled as he watched Tony Stark attempt to quench the flow of blue figures, shooting at them and causing a few to blow up, but then being overcome by more. He sped off, away from the army only to be chased by many of the newcomers. He nearly laughed out loud, but then remembered Tony's threat. The others would be coming. He would have to find his lifeline. He turned around and called her.

"Amber?"

He heard her before he saw her. Soft breathe at his elbow made him jerk it back. He heard her hiss and turned to find her glaring at him angrily. He really did laugh, he couldn't help it. She looked so hilarious with her hair on end and her eyes wild. They soon softened as she looked out at the chaos of burning buildings.

"This is AWESOME! What are those things? They're on our side? Sweet! Can I fight too? Oh please please please?"

This too made him feel proud. He kept grinning and rubbed her head affectionately. She punched his arm lightly and smiled devilishly, awaiting his answer. Loki thought he'd play with her head for a little bit.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, it might not be very _safe_. And there are so many enemies. You might not be able to _handle_ it."

"I can handle it! Let me go! I'll be okay! I'll _crush_ those guys! _Please_?!"

"Hmm. Let me think about it."

The air around her was sparking around her. Her hair was static again, sticking up on end and she was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. He knew what would happen next, but he wasn't prepared for it anyway. He felt a bolt of electricity run through his arm and up and down his body. He shuddered and his arm jolted backwards and hit her in the face again. She caught his elbow and threw it back at him, making him fall backwards. Then she caught his hand and steadied him. He stood up straighter and looked at her quizzically.

"You see? You can barely control your power. I wouldn't want you to accidentally knock down a building. That would be _rude_."

"Ugh, come _on._ I can do it! Hey…" she looked at him calculatingly. Something had apparently just dawned on her, because she was looking more mischievous. He knew what was coming as he had with the spark, and again had no power to stop it.

* * *

"Why am I asking you?" Amber asked Loki, her mouth twisting into a malicious curve, and before he could stop her, she slowly walked backward, eyes on him, until she stood right on the edge of the hole created when Stark had crashed through the window. Her heels teetered above the ledge and she could feel the wind brushing against the back of her neck, disturbing her ponytail. She looked at him naughtily, eyes glinting, "Bye-bye!"

Before he could react, she spread her arms wide and felt herself fall backward out of the window, free falling one hundred feet, arms pressing tight into her body as the air rushed past her. Her hair whipped around her and her entire body went rigid as a board. She loved this every time. She let herself fall for a little bit longer, eyes closed. Then she finally opened them and turned on her magic.

The magic spread like ice through her limbs, blasting her towards the ground. At the last second she pulled up, shooting up into the sky. She blew up the side of a building, legs running up it but making no effort. The glass shattered behind her, exposing offices full of men and women. She summoned more energy and shot bolts of electricity behind her into rooms she had already passed. Some lit on fire and there were screams. He saw people flood out onto the street outside. She saw many people look up and around, as if suddenly realizing that evil blue figures were flying around on strange magical chariots and shooting at people with strange blue lights. She jumped into the now empty room to have some fun with some random peoples stuff.

She proceeded to wreck the place, lighting things on fire, electrocuting random stuff and shooting ice everywhere. Soon everybody was gone, probably seeking shelter in the streets. She decided to head out as well, so she ran and jumped out the window. She flew across the sky, searching for the 'Avengers'. She knew Iron Man was off somewhere and also knew that she shouldn't go after him. Not when he could beat her. She would have to settle for a less powerful hero. She caught sight of Hawkeye and Black Widow flying the Quinjet around the city and shooting at Chitauri chariots. She decided to go after them.

She sped through the air, following them. She jumped from wall to wall, doing flips to free herself from any pent up energy. She caught up to them and sat herself down on the wing. They shot down the Chitauri, and then turned toward the tower. She saw Loki battling Thor savagely. Loki fired blue energy from his staff, knocking Thor aside. He then turned to the Quinjet, pointing his scepter at it as well. It circulated around the air, constantly shooting at him. She got bored of this game quickly so she decided to have some fun with the wing she sat on. By ripping it off.

The wing fell to the ground and crushed a dumpster which promptly burst into flames. Natasha and Clint must have noticed because she could hear screams of "WHAT THE HELL?!" from the inside of the cockpit. She grinned and scrambled off of the jet, right when Loki shot it. She hovered around to watch them slam into the street, still laughing. Unfortunately, they survived. She decided to let them deal with their stupid lives, and go off to help Loki.

* * *

Loki wasn't enjoying himself. He was currently engaged in a rather agonizing fight involving a hammer and an idiot. He couldn't keep Thor down, just like the old days. The old days when Loki was continually out shined and shoved down by his brother. Even being dropped from the rainbow bridge had all been because of Thor and his thoughtless blunders. And now he was back to the old brotherly rivalry. Trying to beat each other to the death and chuck each other off a tower. Yep, just like old days.

And, of course, there was the small, psychotic girl sitting on the ledge and watching him get beat up by his older brother.

He stared at her questioningly, and she responded, "It's getting up." She was pointing at his brother. The idiot was gawking up at the sky with the look of a lost cow. These things were completely normal. What wasn't was the giant Chitauri leviathan that was emerging from the vortex of evilness. The one that Loki had created. Loki was so ecstatic, he even joined in with the maniacal laughter issuing from Amber's mouth. She was practically rolling around on the railing, giggling and pointing at the giant snake-like creature. He was positive that she really wanted one. Now he knew what to get her for her birthday. When was her birthday? Did she even know? He'd have to ask her when he got the chance.

The leviathan passed over three small figures. He saw Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Captain America look up as its Chitauri infested underbelly. Loki saw similar expressions to Thor's reflected on their faces. He could have, would have laughed if he hadn't lost the ability to a moment later. Unfortunately for him, he was soon unable to when Thor grabbed his head and turned it forcefully to face the flaming mass of destruction that used to be the city of "Manhattan".

"Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?!" Thor cried. He was obviously worried. Loki was almost tempted to lay down his weapon and let Thor take him back to the old days. He resisted the urge and instead turned his head away.

"It's too late. It's too late to stop it."

"No," Thor insisted, voice suddenly changing, lifting, "We can. Together."

Loki looked at him with new eyes, showing signs of hope. Then he stabbed Thor in the chest with a small silver dagger. Thor keeled over, groaning. "Sentiment," Loki hissed.

Thor got up and kicked Loki in the chest. Loki toppled and Thor grabbed him and lifted him into the air, then slammed him down hard on the ground. Loki looked up at him for a split second and then, covered in dust and blood, rolled over the edge.

* * *

Amber watched all of the brotherly rivalry unfold, choosing not to help only because it was entertaining to watch and she still didn't know if she could trust Loki. Thor picked him up and threw him down and Loki rolled off the ledge to land on a Chitauri chariot. By now she was bored again and there was a free opponent standing right in front of her, so she decided to take this opportunity to beat him up. He couldn't yet hear her, she had made sure that no one would interfere with her watching the fight, but it was so boring to fight a person when they couldn't see you. Took all the fun out of it. She dropped the magic and stood up to face Thor.

He stared at her for a moment as if sizing her up, and then turned away. Amber felt as if this was insulting her strength, so she hit him on the back, not really hard, but hard enough to leave a bruise. He turned around, "What?"

"Why are you turning your back on me!?"

He looked at her as if it was obvious, "Because I know that you are on our side. I can't let Loki be let on to this. Keep up the good work."

She was stunned. She couldn't believe that he could possibly think that she was actually planning on turning her back on Loki, would help the Avengers. That was the first time she realized that she considered herself and him a team. She was not going to leave him. She was going to help him. She wouldn't give up. She would fight with him to the death. And it really annoyed her that Thor could blame her for helping him take his brother-defeat his brother. She would show him. She would destroy him.

"What 'good work'?! There is no good work."

"You can drop the act with me. You are helping me, helping my brother. You're giving him back to me. You are changing him, making him into my old brother again."

"That's the problem."

His face changed into a look of confusion. His mouth opened slightly, so that he looked like a flabbergasted goldfish, "What's the problem? There is no problem!"

"Yes there is. I may be changing him, I don't know, but what I do know is that the problem with me helping him is that he and I are more alike than you realize. I'm just as insane as he is. I'm on his side!" She jumped at him, raising her nails turned claws. They made contact with his face before he even knew what was happening. She slashed his face open, making three dark, bloody gashes. Thor recoiled blocking his face. He raised his hand and summoned his hammer.

It came hurling towards him, a blur of agonizing steel. Amber automatically extended her arm to catch it, and was caught by surprise when it dragged her away on its path to its master. She was flung back, over Thor's head. She crashed into the wall, head over heels. The wall cracked under her and she sunk to the ground. She rolled over, groaning, ears flattened against her large furry fuzz ball of a head. Her eyes opened dazedly to find Thor advancing towards her.

She got up and bounded off the ledge. Mid jump she summoned her magic and sped off in search of another opponent. She saw Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye look up and Loki fly over them followed by many more chariots, firing at the street and setting off a chain of explosions. Terrified people ran from Loki, looking over their shoulders as Captain America looked down the bridge.

He said something Amber couldn't hear and Black Widow pulled out a pistol and fired. Hawkeye pulled the trigger on his bow and an arrow was mechanically chosen from the quiver on his back. He shot the arrow into one of the death creature's heads and it stuck there as the Chitauri soldier died, giving Cap a few seconds to jump off the bridge. Cap did and dashed along the street, leaping over dozens of explosions. Meanwhile Hawkeye ran over to a bus to help people get out of it. Amber decided not to stick around.

She flew off to try her luck against a more powerful opponent. It was time to fight Stark.


	15. Chapter 14-More showing off

**Sorry for the huge delay. I've been super busy, writing a book and my grandmother's funeral and other stuff. This just sort of slipped my mind. I have been noticing that people have been skipping the middle of my story and going straight from the prologue to the end. I mean, come on guys! Don't do that! And yes, I can see what people have been reading. I'm always watching. Always.**

Chapter 14

More Showing Off

Amber was off to find Stark. She was okay with not finding him, but only if she found a better opponent, she would stick around and battle them instead, but she kind of wanted to test her strength against him if she could. Unfortunately, she found herself searching in vain. She instead went off to find Loki again. She spotted him riding on the back of a chariot. She sped off to catch up to him.

"Greeting, my lady."

"Very funny," he responded.

"So, watcha doin'?"

"Flying around on a chariot and shooting at people. Why?"

She rolled her playful bright yellow eyes, "Because it looked fun. Can I try?"

"No."

"Aww, come on. I won't break it."

"Yeah you will."

"Not that much!" she whined.

He just smiled, eyes twinkling, and reached out to ruffle her hair. She dodged under his arm and jabbed him in the side. He laughed and she grinned, too.

"Wanna race?"

"Sorry," he said, "But I'm busy."

She looked down and saw, to her amazement, Captain America rallying the police officers. He must have been a real leader to find a way to control these idiots. She had never really had much trouble with hiding from them. Man, she had stolen in front of them, _without_ her invisibility, occasionally _from_ them, and they rarely-no make that never-caught. It was hilarious, playing around with their Tasers, shooting random people and looting their electrocuted bodies, stuff like that. She had a large amount of Tasers back in a dumpster down some alley. She didn't use them that much, she had no reason to. She was totally good with just going invisible and stealing like that.

She saw officers spread out, apparently following the orders issued to them by Steve. She watched Cap speed off into a building full of-hostages maybe? In any case, none of them seemed happy. She couldn't see what was going on inside, but she heard yells and a minute later, an explosion. She glanced back at Loki, and then zoomed off to see what was going on. When she got there she saw crowds flooding out of the building and Captain America with them. On the other side of town, she saw Stark tackling the Chitauri Leviathan, literally. He flew away from it, just as Cap regrouped with Hawkeye and Black Widow. Thor touched down in their area as well. They all stood around talking, and then Amber went paper white. Banner arrived, driving a small motorbike. He got off and looked around, then stood and spoke with the rest of them. Amber decided that now would be a great time to go invisible.

She did and sneaked around them to listen to their conversation.

"This all seems horrible," Banner commented.

"I've seen worse," replied Romanoff.

"Sorry."

"No," she said, "We could use a little worse."

"Stark? We got him," Captain America spoke into his ear piece. Amber couldn't hear the answer, but did hear Rogers' response. "Just like you said."

She took this to mean that Stark had expected Banner's arrival or something. She didn't like that. It meant that Loki had been fooled and she didn't like the idea that Loki, intelligent as he was, could possibly be fooled by anyone. Especially an idiot like Stark.

Speaking of Stark, he emerged around a building. For a second he looked as if he were just flying aimlessly. That is, until the giant leviathan swooped down behind him. They barreled down the street, swinging from side to side as it crashed into buildings. Banner glanced behind him. Cap looked at him. Banner began to walk toward the oncoming beast, as if in a trance.

"Doctor Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry," Rogers speculated.

"That's my secret, Captain," He said, stopping and turning toward the group of misfits, "I'm always angry." He turned, stretching and turning green. When he met the monster head on, he was the Hulk again.

Hulk basically popped the leviathan.

Stark fired at a soft spot in its flesh and the thing _exploded_ , bits of it catching on fire and splattered the pavement. Amber gagged as bits and pieces flew at and around her. But that wasn't the worst part. The Avengers, "earth's **mightiest** heroes" had assembled. They stood in a circle, facing out, with the looming figure of Hulk underneath the shining Iron Man. Captain America held his shield defensive while Black Widow, Hawkeye and Thor seized their weapons at the ready. They were even enough to intimidate Loki himself. An expression of uncertainty crossed his face, but was immediately replaced by a look of cool contemplation.

She sped back to him, resuming her normal visibility, in time to hear him mutter, "Bring the rest."

Amber leered as the portal became the equivalent of a Manhattan rush hour. Chitauri burst through, side by side with two more giant leviathans in full armor and no doubt playing house to even more chitauri soldiers. She really did laugh out loud to see the looks on the Avengers faces then. They were all totally wondering why they couldn't have just stayed home and had nothing to do with this, she was sure. Iron Man grabbed Hawkeye and lifted him effortlessly, flying up and dropping him off on a more elevated playing field. Thor left too, zooming off with Mjolnir to go blow stuff up. Hulk soared high onto a building to rip chitauri apart. Amber decided it was time to go as well, hurtling off in the opposite direction as Loki.

She spun and occasionally blasted fire in random directions, setting buildings alight. She also froze the electric wires and electrocuted the water. Thor did the same type off pew-pewing but a much bigger scale. A blast of lightning arched through the sky, aimed for the portal. Nothing happened to it, though many chitauri soldiers dropped dead, convulsing in agony. Amber ignored this and did another city flyover, watching chitauri and Avengers duke it out in front of wide-eyed humans, helping when she could and mostly looking for an interesting target. She finally stopped to examine Black Widow, who was doing something strange. She had dropped her stolen energy rifle for no good reason.

She backed up, said something to Captain America, who was holding his shield in a rather peculiar fashion, and then ran at him. She leaped up, onto his shield, and was propelled upward and onto a chitauri ride passing over them. She climbed up fully onto the chariot, then cut the shooter's link to it and jumped onto him. She sliced into his veins and threw him over. Iron Man arrived and shot down the rest of the chitauri riders following her and then made his way down to Cap. Captain Steve used his shield to reflect a beam to take down a chitauri soldier. Hawkeye sent a mini legion of arrows down from his perch, shooting down a chitauri rider that had previously been chasing Iron Man. She turned to see Thor and the Hulk tearing their enemies apart, with either lightning or their bare hands.

It was a chitauri massacre.

* * *

Thor raised his hammer, drawing lightning in from all sides and shooting it right into another leviathan, causing it to crash into a history museum. Dead. Thor and the Hulk stood on top of the leviathan's corpse, breathing hard, their shoulders going up and down. Hulk suddenly punched Thor to the side, producing a crushed wall and a crushed Thor. Loki grinned, needing something to grin about, because his current action wasn't going to cut it.

He was just hanging on to his chariot. He now understood why the chitauri were connected the laser cannon. He was being dragged around on a chariot in the sky, doing his best to look about as dignified as he possibly could, which wasn't very easy to do, even for him. It was made much worse when he felt the part of his mind controlling Selvig being shoved out of the old man's head and back into his own. _Damn it_ , he thought, _Damn the idiot professor! Damn his pointless mind!_ But it could not be helped, and anyway, there was no reason to keep him around. His function was complete. The Tesseract's function was complete. His job was complete.

All he needed to do now was to eliminate the rebels and claim this world for his own.

And then what? What would it finally feel like to rule the world? His own world. What was he going to _do_ with it? Or, the humans at least. Would he assign them jobs or would he let them get on with their lives, always living in fear, knowing that a higher power watched their every move. And what would he do with Amber. He couldn't leave her, not after being locked up with her, after letting her get so close. Not after finding an understanding with her. They were exactly alike. Same type of back story. Same aptitude for chaos. She was like his own kid. His own little sister. She would stay with him. He would let nothing happen to her.

Nothing.

He was dislodged from his thoughts of the future by a more present matter. Natasha flew past him on a chitauri chariot. How she had possibly managed to get up there, kill both driver and shooter and still managing to stay on, driving it using the dead corpse of the driver and, on top of everything else, still looking calm and in control. That wasn't supposed to happen!

He, of course, took off after her at an even more dangerous pace. She turned back and rolled her eyes, "Oh, you."

He thought that that was rather rude considering he had worked very hard on this whole demolition project, which he thought had been very successful on the whole. He would have been enjoying himself had it not been for the resistance of these foolish humans. And his idiotic brother. God, he hated the lot of them, with there "special abilities" and dumb costumes. He was no longer paying attention, busy thinking up more torturous ways of making these _Avengers_ go bye-bye, so that when he heard the tell-tale wiz of an arrow heading her way he at first disregarded it as nothing more than a bird. Until he remember that one of those idiots was using a bow and arrow.

His main priority being cool and all, he chose to catch the arrow rather than dodge around it. Amber watched, head turned, hovering in midair. She appeared to see something and her eyes switched to orange in a split second.

"NO!" she yelled, but it was too late. The arrow in Loki's hand beeped, red light blinking, and then exploded! He was blasted off the chariot and all he could think was _damn it Loki! Damn it, in front of the kid?!_ And then he saw her, eyes shut and face sort of scrunched up. She must have tried to stop him, only to be caught by the explosion. She tried to regain her balance, but crashed through one of Stark's windows and into the ground before that. Sweat and grit covered her pale pink face and he knew that she had exerted herself, perhaps too much. Not good. He then returned to his own little problem world with an overdose of HOLYSHITTHATHURTS when he crashed into the landing pad. Not a recommended experience. Amber was a little ways away, inside the penthouse where Stark had previously "threatened" him, eyes still closed. She was bleeding across her face, a long, dark scratch across her left eye, and her arms were bleeding as well. Her clothes were covered in blood and pieces of shrapnel. He stood up and started to walk inside, over to her when the Hulk came hurtling out of nowhere to hasten his entry. By kicking him through the glass and into the wall.

The Hulk bounded in, in a not-very-welcoming stance of foreboding death. Loki rolled himself up to a standing position, eyes even with the beast's if not a little bit higher because of his elevated stance as stair master adding to his already significant height. He then screamed pointlessly at the creature.

"Enough! You are all of you beneath me!" It paused, looking puzzled. Obviously its tiny mind could not understand this. "I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by a-

The Hulk picked Loki up by the legs and smashed him into the ground. An again and again, practically destroying the floor. And Loki. Ouch. He was just glad that the kid was knocked out. Then he saw her. There was blood all over her face, arms and clothes. He needed to get over to her. She was bleeding out. If only the stinking beast would put him down.

He instantly regretted that decision.

Hulk through him to the ground, "Puny god." Then he walked out as if that had been nothing more than a tantrum with a rag doll. Loki felt like a rag doll. He moaned and his tiny personal crater. This was definitely gonna leave a mark.

 **Again, sorry for the delay. The next chapter won't take nearly as long. Thank you.**


	16. Chapter 15-Back where we started

**This is it! The final story! The final chapter! Thanks all! Thank you very much!**

* * *

Chapter 15

Back where we started

Lots of stuff happened between the time of Loki getting up and Amber waking up. She did wake up, eventually, but it took a while. But as she was unconscious, her spirit was awake, and well aware of everything going on around her. Everything. She saw all the Avengers, scattered around the place. It was crazy. She looked over at Loki. He was sitting beside-OHMYGOD! WASSAT HER?!

She looked terrible, covered in blood. She would be in agony when she woke up. If she woke up. She was sure she would have scars all over her arms, legs and face. She looked down at herself. She wasn't there. Completely gone. She tried to move a hand, but nothing happened. She couldn't physically feel. But she could see and hear better than normal. It was as if she had been sent out of her body to do research or something. But how would she get back?

She decided to set that aside for later and instead make use of this new found super creepy power. She looked over at Black Widow and Selvig standing over near the Tesseract. She wished she could get over there to see what they were up to. And suddenly she was there. It was terrifying. One minute she was in the middle of the city, the next she was right beside them. This was like taking being invisible to a whole new level. Like being a ghost. Got there just in time to hear Black Widow and Selvig begin a conversation which could prove necessary to Loki's takeover.

"Doctor."

"Loki's scepter, the energy . . . the Tesseract can't fight. You can't protect against yourself."

"It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing."

"Well, actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source."

 _GODDAMNIT,_ she thought. _COME ON. A SAFETY?! IDIOT! AURGH!_ A safety to cut the power source was going to ruin Loki's plans. It would make him angry and make her angry as well. She needed him to be happy. Needed him to be okay. Because if he was okay, she was okay. She didn't need a family. Didn't need food or sleep. As long as he was happy, she was fine. She needed to warn him.

"Loki's scepter," Natasha said. So the scepter was the key. Hmm.

"And I'm looking right at it," Selvig said. _GODDAMNIT SELVIG!_

She was suddenly back in the city. Thor was destroying a chitauri leviathan into a wall. Captain America fought off soldiers and Iron Man killed another leviathan. Hawkeye used his last arrow as a grappling hook and line to fly into a building through the window. Hulk was holding off a group of chitauri riders as they shot useless blasts of energy. And then she was on the outside of the helicarrier. A single, one armed fighter jet sat on the ground, waiting for something. She was inside it, sitting by the pilot, and then she heard, "Director Fury is no longer in command. Override order, 7 ALPHA 11."

What the hell was that? She didn't have much time to figure it out, because in seconds she was directly next to Fury himself. The boss man was holding a friggin RPG and aiming at the bird. Again, what the hell? He hit the tail end of the jet and it skidded off, stopping before it fell off the edge. The pilot was okay and no harm done. So why was she still there? The reason presented itself almost immediately. Oh god. There goes a plane. The war is lost and everyone is going to die because a single plane just flew off the helicarrier. She could see it now. Everyone lining up to jump. Darn pilot, you've doomed us all.

Then Fury spoke, "Stark, you hearing me? We have a missile headed straight for the city!"

A **missile**? GODDAMNIT RANDOM PILOT!

She was cursing the pilot and saying some rather rude things about his mother, so she barely noticed or cared when she materialized besides a flying Stark, who was going after the missile all by himself. Bucket boy was talking to himself again, and then he went straight upwards, grabbing it.

It would have been more interesting if she had been allowed to stay and watch, but alas, it was the will of some god dude that she go watch Thor and Cap do a cool weapon thing. And then she was next to god damn Selvig as he did some boring stuff like nodding and typing and attempting to figure out a way to save Manhattan. While, of course, Black Widow figured out how to close the portal.

She had broken through the force field and was only a little bit away from shutting down the vortex.

"I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!"

She was next to Cap.

"Do it."

She was next to Iron Man.

"No, wait."

She was next to Cap.

"Stark, these things are still coming!"

Next to Iron Man.

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

Iron Man had gotten the missile. He was under it, holding on and angling it so that it would fly into the portal. With him as well.

Cap.

"Stark, you know this is a one-way trip?"

Stark.

"Save the rest for the return, J."

What did that mean? He must've been talking to Jarvis. Tony flew into the portal, and Amber with him. It was dark, cold, and starry. It seemed beautiful to her, lovely, like a dream. Iron Man's lights began to go out. She ignored him, gazing in awe at the giant ship.

And then it was gone.

It was all gone.

* * *

She stood on a rock ground, surrounded by space. She was on a – a planet almost. Except it didn't seem big or round enough to be a planets.

"Hello, Amber."

The voice was deep, and for some reason it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She noticed the stairs, leading up to a platform. She couldn't see what was on top. It was closed it by rock. She looked down at herself. She was there this time. Solid. In control. She spun around. Completely normal. She tried to fly. Nothing happened.

"That won't work here."

"What?"

"Your magic," the voice said.

What? No!

"Why?" she asked, not wanting to go up to face whatever was up there unarmed.

"You aren't in your own body."

"Of course I am. Who's would I be in otherwise?" But as she said it, she began to feel light. Cold. Like a corpse. She looked down. She shrieked.

Her flesh was peeling away, her bones and muscles were crumpling. She was standing, but her body wasn't. It fell away, like nothing more than shed skin, decrepit, disgusting, her face twisted, like an evil thing. A dead thing.

"Do you see what I mean?"

"What did you do?! Why-why am I dead?"

"It shows what will happen if you don't do what I say. Imagine how Loki would feel if you died like that in front of him."

Amber did. Or rather, she imagined what it would be like if Loki died like that in front of her. Aside from her being traumatized for life-she would need all kinds of therapy-it would destroy her. She doubted she would ever be able to trust again. Ever.

She looked at the stairs again, apprehensive at what may come, but willing to take it on if it meant getting back to Loki. She took the stairs two at a time, anxious to get up there. Better sooner than later. She bounded up onto the platform and stopped dead. There was a giant chair. No beast in sight. The chair was even turned away. As if she wasn't worth the dude's time.

"Why am I here?!"

No answer.

"Who are you?!"

"Who am I?" The giant chair swung around and she gasped, "I am Thanos!"

He was a giant-well, not a man exactly. Just a giant. He skin was purplish, with strange grooves carved into his face, like a tattoo or a brand. His white blue eyes stared at her, and she expected hers were about the same shade. Fear shade. Except his eyes weren't meant to convey fear. His bone chilling grin proved that. It was evil, insane, deadly and murderous yet controlled, as if all of the anger he had ever felt was all bottled up and then carved onto his face along with the rest of the strange indents.

"Are you afraid?"

"A bit, yeah. You and your joker grin are enough to cause a ton of fear, probably about as much as you weigh, fatty. Honestly, you would be even more terrifying if you didn't look like the chair. I bet you couldn't get out if you tried. Jesus Christ."

His grin turned upside down in a split second and suddenly he was seething with anger. Like, _visibly_ seething. Like you could actually feel the anger and heat emanating from him seething.

"Ah, sensitive, are you?"

"I will kill you!"

"Yeah, but wouldn't that take a lot of energy? I mean, you'd have to get all the way out of your chair and walk, like what, three steps? And then you'd have to move your fingers to pick up a weapon and move again! Gosh, you might pull a muscle. Gets me tired just thinking about it."

"I will skin you and burn you and keep you alive an inch from death until you beg for the sweet release of death!"

"Don't talk to a homeless New York twelve year old about the sweet release of death! You can't threaten me with pain! Believe me! You will never have me begging for death! II have thought about it, come close to committing suicide countless times, but I'm still here now! I will never **ever** beg for death, for _anything_ from you! I'd rather **die**!"

"That can be arranged."

He looked like he might actually get up! He used his arms to push himself up, then sat back down, apparently exhausted, "You know what? I don't feel like killing you. Not just yet, anyway. You could be useful. But, if you don't cooperate," his grin was back, and in full malicious measure, "I won't attack you."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?!"

"I'll go after Loki!"

Her breathe caught. No, not Loki. She wouldn't allow it. She would not let **anything** get to Loki. And he just laughed. Laughed at her discomfort, at her terror. At her anger that he could even think about attacking, about torturing Loki.

"So, will you collaborate?"

She sighed, "Yes Thanos."

"Yes **Master**."

"Yes, Master."

She was back. Back in her body. It took her a minute to realize it, but she was. Her eyes were closed. She tried to open them. She felt her eyelid twitch. She tried harder to awaken, but she could feel herself slipping in and out, in limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness. Her hearing was coming back. Suddenly it was as sharp as a pin, so much it hurt.

"Amber! Amber, are you okay?! AMBER!"

"Huh, what? Uh huh."

Her eyes fluttered open, and at the same time the pain you could only get from splitting your head in half. Owmygod that hurt. Her arms and legs and entire body felt like it'd been through a paper shredder. She flinched, curling up into a ball, but even that hurt. Breathing hurt.

She became aware of her surroundings, a little bit at a time. She was on the ground, on the top of the stairs. Loki was looking down at her. His eyes were over bright. She pretended not to notice.

He smiled and his whole face relaxed. She tried to smile as well, but what it came out was more of a grimace. Her face was split open. She could only see out of one eye, and the other was sliced in half. She doubted she'd ever be able to see out of it again, but she was lucky to be alive.

"Loki, I'm alright! I'm fine!"

"Don't lie to me, I'm the god of that. Tell the truth."

"Well, I'm alive!"

"That's better."

"But not for long. I've lost too much blood."

"Don't worry. You're gonna be alright. We'll win this. Once I have the city-

Amber suddenly remembered it all. Everything from her traveling around the city to her confrontation with Thanos. Especially the confrontation with Thanos. She shivered just thinking about it, but wouldn't let it get to her. She knew she should be more worried, but she could talk about it to Loki later. Or should she. She might not be able to. If there was even a possibility that he might try to get to Loki because of her made her feel even fainter than she was already. Oh man she was faint.

She then remembered what else was happening.

"Loki! Their coming! They shut the portal down and now they're coming for you!"

"Damn it! Oh DAMN IT!" something apparently dawned on him in a second, "Wait! How did you know?"

"Uh…"

"Amber."

"Fine! I had an out of body experience, okay?!"

"Okay."

She could tell that he wasn't buying it, but he didn't bring it up again. She was grateful.

"We should probably get out of here."

"Yeah." Loki turned around and stopped dead, "Uh, about that."

Amber looked up. There they were. All six of them. And they all looked murderous.

"If it's all the same to you," Loki said looking sheepish, "I'll have that drink now."

* * *

Loki would have been swearing his cold dirty mouth. Unfortunately, he was stuck with a stupid friggin' mouth cover thing made of metal and basically fused to his face. This could be taken as a complement, but right now he was just annoyed. Almost as annoyed as he had been when they had taken Amber away. He understood that it could have been helped, mostly because she had been very near death when they had finally decided to stop interrogating her.

Now she stood next to him, cuffed too his wrists and looking uncomfortable, but not angry. She even smiled and stuck out her tongue at the two agents who stood off to the side, conversing and smirking.

Captain Steve and Stark Man the Incredible Bruce stood a little to the left of what Loki assumed was a nice car. He couldn't see the difference. It would be nice to just go home where everything was hideous and destructible and he wouldn't need to worry about destroying something that was already useless and unnecessary energy spent.

Amber yawned, "Where are we going?"

Thor looked at her, "We?"

"Yeah, we! I'm coming with you, idiot."

Thor looked at Loki. Loki smiled and nodded towards here.

"Aww, that's so cute."

"What?" Loki and Thor asked, genuinely confused.

"You two obviously still care! Look at you! That's so adorable," Amber said, grinning.

The others laughed, even Thor cracked a smile, but Loki scowled. He heard Stark chuckle, "Too bad she's on our side. Would've been fun to keep her. She's a cute kid."

"What did you say?!" Loki hissed.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

"Shut up. Shut up right now."

Stark rolled his eyes, "I can do whatever I want. You can't stop me."

Loki looked back at Amber. She was grinning even more now.

"Why are you smiling?" He asked.

"Because I'm more mature than you are."

"You're joking, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

He grinned too. Thor cleared his throat, indicating the tesseract inside the – whatever that was. Teleportation device probably. He obviously wanted Loki to take the handle. He didn't want to if they were going where he thought they were going, but it wasn't like he had a choice. He took the handle. Thor looked up at him, looked him in the eye, and Loki could've sworn that there was a look of regret in his eyes, a look of almost brotherhood.

Thor turned the handle, and everything went blue.

 **Thanks you all. That'll be it, for now, but don't worry, it's not over. I'm planning on starting a new story. Starting it now, actually. Thanks again for reading. Bye for now.**


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